On September 18 the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan continued the trial on the murder of Tigran Naghdalian, the Chairman of the Council of RA Public TV and Radio Company, committed on December 28, 2002 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 12-18, 2003). The session started with the announcement of Tigran Naghdalian’s father, Hovhannes Naghdalian, about the challenge to his attorney, Ruben Rshtuni. The motivation behind the decision was stated by Hovhannes Naghdalian to be the controversies arising between the attorney and the prosecution. From now on the interests of the injured party will be represented by Hovhannes Naghdalian’s daughter Karineh Naghdalian. The session continued by a demonstration of the video recording of the interrogation of Felix Arustamian (charged with accomplicity in the murder and illegal storage of arms) by the bodies of preliminary investigation. Felix Arustamian refused to answer the further questions of the judge, having previously pleaded not guilty and refused the testimony given to the investigative bodies.
Further the court heard Gegham Shakhbazian (charged with accomplicity in the murder and illegal storage of arms), whose interrogation continued at the session of September 23. Gegham Shakhbazian generally confirmed the testimony he had given to preliminary investigation bodies (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 8-14, 2003). According to Gegham Shakhbazian, the order to kill Tigran Naghdalian was received from Hovhannes Harutiunian (charged with accomplicity and illegal storage of arms), who announced that Armen Sargsian is to pay for the murder (named the main orderer of the crime). The other defendant Grigor Petrosian (charged with accomplicity and illegal storage of arms) also confirmed his testimony, given to the preliminary investigation bodies. At the session of September 24 the interrogation of Petrosian ended. The next defendant Leva Harutiunian (charged with concealment of the crime) refused to answer the question, however, confirmed the preliminary testimony, too.
