YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the Special Investigation Service of Armenia Sasun Khachatryan has partially declassified the highly confidential order N0038 signed by former Defense Minister of Armenia Mikayel Harutyunyan on February 23, 2008. Before speaking about the confidential order, Sasun Khachatryan hoped that the Court of Appeal of Armenia will deny the motion of Kocharyan’s attorneys to change the preventive detention as precautionary measure. “This is my personal opinion, and I think that the preventive detention is the only measure that can ensure the proper behavior of the defendant during the investigation”, ARMENPRESS reports Khachatryan as saying during “Agenda” program on Public TV.

He noted that the second president has denied to give testimony as a defendant and has not participated in any other investigative actions. “He just did not participate and left the room without any explanations”, he said.

Referring to N0038 order, the Chairman of the Special Investigation Service said that the mentioned document was included in the materials of the criminal case only in July of this year. “The first references to the 0038 command were published on the press. There was a leak of information some time after the incidents that it was a highly confidential order. The order in fact proves that the Armed Forces of Armenia participated in the incidents of March 1”, Sasun Khachatryan said, adding that he can largely declassify the document. Khachatryan emphasized that Kocharyan’s attorneys have also been provided with the document.

The order was headlined “On fulfilling the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief”. “After recognizing the presidential elections of Armenia as open and transparent by the international community some political forces do not accept it and try to destabilize the situation by illegal actions. The Armed Forces of Armenia, being the security guarantee of the state, are ready to ensure stability in the country based on the Constitution and laws and not to allow a group of people to hinder the natural deve3lopment of the country. For the fulfillment of the Constitutional obligations by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia I order to confine to barracks the entire personnel of the Armed Forces starting from 18:00 February 23 until receiving a special command, to set officer groups in the departments of the central apparatus of the Defense Ministry and separate divisions and arm them with government-issue weapon”, the Chairman of the Special Investigation Service quoted from the order, adding that the then Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Khachaturov was responsible for the fulfillment of this task.

Sasun Khachatryan referred some other articles of the order. “The heads of departments of the Defense Ministry and Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, the Commanders of Army Corpses and separate regiments have been ordered to set united mobile units able to act effectively in difficult situations,”Khachatryan said, adding that each Army Corps should provide 100 servicemen armed with gunfire weapons. “And now the most striking moment. The 10th point of the same order says that these units should be comprised of the best trained, psychologically stable officers, non-commissioned officers, contractual servicemen and conscripts. I don’t know what impression you got from this, but I have the impression that special groups were set that were tasked to conduct some diversionist acts against the enemy”, the Chairman of the Special Investigation Service said.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan