The criminal prosecution of Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov, former chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces and former secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, has not been terminated.
Earlier, Khachaturov’s lawyer Mihran Poghosyan had filed a motion asking the court to terminate the criminal prosecution of his client, Sputnik Armenia reported.
“Yuri Khachaturov was a senior official of an international organization. He was the CSTO secretary general and was granted immunity by that organization. Yuri Khachaturov could not be subjected to criminal prosecution. That immunity was granted not only by Armenia, but by all states simultaneously.
The defense considers it necessary to clearly refute any possible argument by the prosecution that, because Khachaturov was an Armenian citizen and was in Armenia when the criminal prosecution was initiated, he was not physically performing his duties as CSTO secretary general and therefore could not benefit from immunity. Such an assertion contradicts the principles of international law,” Poghosyan said.
The lawyer also argued that the immunity did not depend on the person’s location or whether he was carrying out specific official duties at that particular moment, since Khachaturov continued to hold the position.
The court announced a recess to review the motion.
After the hearing resumed, the prosecutor emphasized that immunity was not absolute and applied only during the performance of official duties, which, according to the prosecutor, was not the case with Khachaturov.
The defense lawyer objected to the prosecutor’s position.
On April 6, 2021, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction granted a defense motion in the March 1 case. Following a Constitutional Court ruling declaring Article 300.1 unconstitutional, the criminal prosecution of Armenia’s second president Robert Kocharyan, former Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, and former General Staff chief and CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov was terminated. Seyran Ohanyan and Yuri Khachaturov were fully released from criminal prosecution.
At its July 22 hearing, Armenia’s Constitutional Court ruled that Part 3 of Article 309.1 of the 1998 Criminal Procedure Code complied with the Constitution. The ruling gave prosecutors the opportunity to reclassify the charges against Robert Kocharyan and the others and resume proceedings in the case.
