HIGHLIGHT: The Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has no information about the criminal charges brought by Armenia against its Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov told TASS on Friday.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. The Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has no information about the criminal charges brought by Armenia against its Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov told TASS on Friday.

"As stated earlier, In July CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov left for Yerevan to testify as a witness about the events that occurred on March 1-2, 2008. The CSTO Secretariat has no other information," he noted.

On Thursday, Armenia’s Special Investigative Service pressed charges against Khachaturov, accusing him of overthrowing the constitutional order in 2008 and asked the court to impose a pre-trial detention on him.

The investigators did not specify Khachaturov’s role in the 2008 events. At that time he was the Commander of the Yerevan Garrison of the Armenian Armed Forces. Khachaturov has served as CSTO Secretary General since 2017.

The investigators also pressed charges against ex-Armenian President Robert Kocharyan who held the office in 1998-2008, asking the court to issue a warrant for his arrest. On Thursday, the former president was questioned as part of the criminal case on the clashes between police and opposition members on March 1, 2008, which left eight protesters and two police officers dead.

Armenia was rocked by a series of protests in the wake of the presidential election held on February 19, 2008. The protesters disagreed with its official results, with Serzh Sargsyan winning the race. The protests were organized by supporters of first Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan who had presidential ambitions at that time.