Defendants Pavel Manukyan, Varouzhan Avetisyan, Mkhitar Avetisyan, Arayik Khandoyan, Gagik Yeghiazaryan, Armen Bilyan, Areg Kyureghyan, Smbat Barseghyan, Sedrak Nazaryan and Edward Grigoryan from “Sasna Tsrer” group accused of Police Patrol-Guard Service Regiment occupation and a row of heavy crimes in 2016, introduce their opinion on the indictments nominated against them.
Pavel Manukyan, known as “Aparantsi Pavlik (Pavlik from Aparan)”, qualified the indictment as a “drawing”. He, applying to Judge Mesrop Makyan, told: “If you show a sole fair trial throughout these years, I promise to remove my left eye with my left hand… I leave my right eye in place, my fatherland will need it… I see a silent suffering in your eyes, do not obey!”
Manukyan continued: “You say I am accused of taking hostage and occupying a building… and you tell nothing about the fact that Armenia is a hostage for more than two decades. I enter the court and it smells like Turks… this statehood has been obtained by the blood of my friends. How should I tolerate when they say Aghdam is not my fatherland..? Do you know what hostage means..? I have been Turks’ hostage for 2 times. When Vardan Yeghiazaryan came, they shot him with machine gun, blew him onto the wall. I told, they will shoot you as well… we kept Osipyan away, for them not to do anything to him…we set him free and the next day he started suppressing the people in Khorenatsi street.”
Let us remind you that pursuant to the indictment, the group members have gone out to negotiate with Deputy Chief of Police of the Republic of Armenia, Vardan Yeghiazaryan and Yerevan Deputy Chief of Police, Valeri Osipyan, but have taken them, hostage, instead. Pavel Manukyan addressed also to the part of the indictment implying that they have taken also the medical workers who had entered the territory of Police Patrol-Guard Service Regiment hostage: “When the doctors come here, we will greet each other… how do you imagine us, the soldiers, taking doctors hostage?”
Luiza SUKIASYAN
