JAILED OVER LEAK: FORMER MOD OFFICIAL GOES TO PRISON FOR DISCLOSING TOP STATE ORDER
Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
| 05.05.10 | 16:13
A former Ministry of Defense (MOD) official has been sentenced to
two years in prison for disclosing a secret state order related to
the 2008 post-election events.
A court in Yerevan on Tuesday supported the prosecution case against
Armen Sargsyan, who formerly headed the MOD Department of Capital
Construction and leaked top secret information about the involvement
of the Armenian military in the suppression of the opposition protests
in March 2008 to the opposition press.
Lyusia Ayvazyan, another official who headed the MOD department’s
information group, was found guilty of complicity by way of providing
Sargsyan with a copy of the secret order, and given a one-year
suspended prison sentence. Ayvazyan was set free from the court-room.
According to the indictment, in December 2009, Sargsyan spread
an extract of the top-secret order of then Defense Minister Mikael
Harutyunyan, issued on February 23, 2008, according to which military
units (which were later involved in the March 1-2 post election
clashes), not foreseen by the legislation of Armenia, were created
within the MOD system.
The existence of such an order gave a cause both to oppositionists
and delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) to insist that "a military coup d’etat" had taken place.
The counsel for the defense insists that the verdict of the Court of
General Jurisdiction of Yerevan’s Avan and Nor Nork Communities is
"illegal, because Sargsyan’s guilt has not been proved yet;" besides,
"Sargsyan, as the inciter of the crime, faces greater punishment than
the committer of the crime does."
Soon after the extract of the order was published in the opposition
Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time) daily, on December 27, 2009, Sargsyan
and Ayvazyan were detained: Sargsyan was accused of inciting the crime,
and Ayvazyan – of disclosing the top-secret order.
According to the bill of indictment, "Sargsyan asked Ayvazyan to
photocopy the extract of the top-secret order, and give it to him;"
that is to say, Sargsyan incited Ayvazyan to committing a crime.
"There is no such practice that an inciter faces more severe punishment
than the one who commits a crime. This is obviously a personal revenge,
and it is an order from above," Sargsyan’s attorney Hovik Arsenyan
told ArmeniaNow.
Sargsyan insists the case was initiated because of the personal
disagreements that he had with the MOD higher authorities.
He does not plead guilty, even though he agreed to have a quick trial
(which is usually done if a defendant pleads guilty.)
"He [Sargsyan] agreed to have a quick trial out of despair, in order
to have a milder sentence, which, however, was not done and failure
to do that is also illegal," says defense attorney Arsenyan.