CSTO Secretariat unaware on Secretary General’s indictment in Armenia

YEREVAN, JULY 27, ARMENPRESS. The Secretariat of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) has no information about the charges pressed against its Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, CSTO spokesperson Vladimir Zaynetdinov has said, according to TASS.

“As reported earlier, CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov departed for Yerevan in July with the purpose of testifying as a witness over the 2008 March 1-2 events, the CSTO Secretariat doesn’t have any other information,” Zaynetdinov said.

Amid an ongoing investigation into the March 1 case, the Special Investigative Service (SIS) of Armenia has charged CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, the Armenian general who served as deputy minister of defense in 2008, with article 300.1 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code – breaching constitutional order in conspiracy with others – the same accusation faced by former President Robert Kocharyan.

The SIS has filed a motion to court seeking an arrest warrant to remand the general in custody.

In a statement, the SIS said it charged Khachaturov “based on sufficient evidence”.

Khachaturov was appointed head of CSTO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, in 2017.

The March 1 case is an ongoing investigation into the deadly 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan. Kocharyan was the outgoing president at the time, as Serzh Sargsyan was named winner of the presidential election. Mass protests erupted in Yerevan, which led to fatal clashes between security forces and demonstrators.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan