Vache and not Hrach: Vanetsyan did talk to the judge

Shortly after the publication of the telephone conversation between the director of the RA National Security Service and the Chief of the Special Investigation Service, Artur Vanetsyan and Sasun Khachatryan held a press conference.

In his opening remarks, NSS Director Artur Vanetsyan confirmed that the recording was not fake.

In response to a journalist’s request to comment on the part of the conversation where Vanetsyan tells about his talk with the judge investigating Robert Kocharyan’s case, the director of the National Security Service replied that has never talked to the judge.

 “The matter concerns the judge who made a pre-trial detention decision with respect to Robert Kocharyan. I do not know Hrach. I’ve never seen him. […] I have never spoken to Hrach, it’s an undeniable fact. Everyone can see that I do not know the judge and I have never spoken to him“ Vanetsyan said.

First of all, it should be noted that the name of the judge who made a decision to arrest Robert Kocharyan is not Hrach. His name is Vache Margaryan. Besides, the words of the director of the National Security Service in the published recording are quite clear. He speaks about the judge investigating the case of Robert Kocharyan.

“The judge just called me, he is a little scared. He said he should take a look at the whole case. […] I said, look at the grounds, but you have to apply pre-trial detention with regard to him, whether you want it or not“ Vanetsyan says in the published wiretapping.

Thus, though the NSS director states that he does not know the judge, that he has never seen him or talked to him, his words in the recording are clear and unequivocal.

 

Rafael Afrikyan