WITNESS FINALLY QUESTIONED IN HAKOB HAKOBYAN CASE
Ararat Davtyan

-3/
2009/05/26 | 16:11

Court

In the case of National Assembly MP Hakob Hakobyan, Judge Gagik
Avetisyan had previously issued orders for two witnesses, Moushegh
Antonyan and Ashot Melkonyan, who had been previously subpoenaed but
not questioned, to be brought to the court.

Mr. Antonyan had showed up voluntarily but was not questioned at the
time. Prosecutor Hovsep Sargsyan left the court and never returned. The
witness, due to the fact that he was being pursued, spent the night
at the offices of the newspaper "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" and came to
the court from the office today.

Prosecutor Sargsyan today explained that his blood pressure had risen
and that was the reason why he left the courtroom yesterday.

Aram Karapetyan, who heads the New Times Party in Armenia, refuted a
court report that he had interfered with the police who had spotted
witness Antonyan outside the Kentron and Nork-Marash Court and tried
to take him into custody.

"First, those people weren’t in uniform and should no identification
that they were police. Neither did they show any court document
to detain Antonyan. Thus, any person, even criminals, could have
kidnapped Mr. Antonyan," stated Mr. Karapetyan, adding that his
actions were fully justified.

Mr. Antonyan stated today that court papers addressed to him to
appear for questioning were delivered to his neighbor and that he
was never given them. "I’m really confused. When I found out that
orders for my appearance in court had been delivered I came here,"
explained Mr. Antonyan.

A letter had been sent to the court on behalf of Mr. Antonyan stating
that he was now in Georgia and couldn’t make the trial and thus
requested that his earlier testimony be admitted as evidence. Today,
Mr. Antonyan was told about the letter in question and stated that
he couldn’t remember if he wrote such a letter or not.

His passport shows that while he travelled to Bagratashen on May 18,
he never made it to Georgia. "I quarreled with the Georgian border
guards and they refused me entrance," Mr. Antonyan explained.

Today, the witness was finally questioned. His statements contradicted
his earlier testimony.