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Judge Karen Farkhoyan has approved the prosecution’s motion to conduct an exhumation of the remains of the man who died during a highly publicized violent altercation in 2001 involving then-President Robert Kocharyan’s security detail, First Channel News reported.
Poghos Poghosyan, a 43-year-old Armenian man from Javakheti, Georgia, died after an altercation that allegedly turned into a violent fistfight at a Yerevan café in 2001. The incident was reportedly prompted by Poghosyan approaching President Kocharyan, who was leaving the cafe with his entourage, and greeting him in an overly familiar manner. Kocharyan has denied any involvement, claiming he learned about the deadly incident the following morning from the news.
One of Kocharyan’s bodyguards, Aghamal Harutyunyan, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and given a two-year suspended sentence a year after the incident. He told the court that he merely “pushed” the man, who then died after hitting his head on the floor.
Poghosyan was found dead in the café restroom shortly after Kocharian left the venue with his bodyguards.
However, a key witness in the case — a British national — later claimed that he saw several bodyguards repeatedly beating the victim, prompting the case to be reopened as a possible murder investigation.
The Armenian court will file a request with Georgian authorities to approve the exhumation, as the victim was buried in Javakheti.