Epress.am News from Armenia
Only one witness was examined in court today in the high-profile trial of former RA Traffic Police Chief Margar Ohanyan, former battalion commander Stepan Karakhanyan, and traffic police employees Ara Levonyan and Samvel Makhmuryan. Recall, they are accused of embezzling approx. 2,500 tons of gasoline that was set aside for traffic police vehicles.
The witness, battalion commander Arsen Arshakyan, testified that the gasoline given to the battalion was insufficient. for this, he contacted Stepan Karakhanyan, who said that this was commanded by Margar Ohanyan. Arshakyan said he contacted Ohanyan with the same issue, who, according to Arshakyan, said that he knows that they receive little fuel.
Asked by Ohanyan in court why he didn’t appeal in writing to the necessary bodies, informing them of the illegal acts taking place, the witness said he knew that the gasoline was being used for the service and if he knew that it was being used for other purposes, he would’ve complained. Arshakyan also said their service didn’t suffer because of the less gasoline.
After the witness gave his testimony, Judge Mkhitar Papoyan read a written appeal by Yerevan Traffic Police Department battalion commander Yeghishe Yengibaryan, a witness who testified on the stand last week, addressed to the court. Yengibaryan wrote that his testimony in court was inaccurate since he was uncomfortable in court and asked that the testimonies he gave prior to the start of the trial be admitted instead. Recall, Yengibarya testified last week that he received 350 liters of gasoline a month and he signed for as much as he received.
Prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan at the time asked Yengibaryan whether employees ever complained of the lack of gasoline. The witness said there weren’t any complaints, but he heard rumors that employees had such issues — just not with him.
The prosecutor pointed out that there were discrepancies between Yengibaryan’s testimony given in court and the one he gave during the investigation and motioned to show the judge the witness’ testimony given during the investigation, which the judge granted. During his pre-trial testimony, Yengibaryan had apparently said his employees are, in fact, displeased with the less fuel and that management was aware of this.
Yengibaryan, in his defense, then said there was a misunderstanding, since during his pre-trial testimony he had said that he only heard rumors of such complaints and that he personally didn’t have such problems. However, as was evident from the written appeal read in court today, it seems Yengibaryan again testified “incorrectly.”
On this matter, Ohanyan said: “It’s as clear as day that the witness was pressured to write such an appeal. But the journalists and others present in court saw that he was not uneasy in court.”
Then the testimonies of two other witnesses, Armen and Meruzhan Karapetyan, were read in court — for objective reasons, it wasn’t possible for them to be present in court. They both said they received less fuel than they signed for. Testifying at the next court session will be Nikoghayos Yeghiazaryan, who was duly notified to be present in court today, but was absent.
Following today’s trial, journalists asked Ohanyan (prior to his being taken away) why Yengibaryan changed his testimony, to which the former traffic police chief said: “You’ve already seen and heard — whether the witness was uneasy, you decide. I’ll tell all in my testimony.”
The next court date is set for Feb. 7 at 12:30 pm.