ArmInfo. Today in the court of general jurisdiction of the Yerevan districts of Kentron and Nork-Marash a session was held on the case of the armed group liquidated in Yerevan, which is preparing a coup in Armenia on the case materials.
After presenting the indictment Arthur Vardanyan, who is on the case as a group leader, said: "To be honest, I can not understand the essence of this accusation." There is no such person who could say that Arthur Vardanyan gave him any orders or called for some action, there was no criminal cooperation, and there is no material evidence of this." He stressed that he does not plead guilty.
In turn, another defendant in the case - Anton Totonjyan, who is charged with financing the gang, also said that he does not consider himself guilty. Former Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia Vahan Shirkhanyan also stated that he completely disagreed with the accusation. "I was ashamed after I heard how illiterate this indictment was drawn up, how can it be possible to shoot down a plane from a distance of 1.5 kilometers with the help of the KG? Illiteracy must have limits. But, however, I am not involved in this", referring to the judge, he noted.
Defendant Garnik Margaryan, chairman of the party "Homeland and Honor", also pleaded not guilty and stated: "All the charges are against me are fictitious, I am being persecuted for my 30-year-old political activity, which was directed against the Government and corruption. " I will talk about this later. I have nothing to do with the criminal group, I have been sentenced to the accusation of the criminal group. "Defendant, participant of the Karabakh war" Harutyun Saribekyan stated that he was not familiar with any of the participants in the trial. "I did not want to go against my people," Saribekyan said. The defendant was in the neighborhood of the international airport "Zvartnots", from where, according to the charge, from the distance of 1.5 kilometers, President Serzh Sargsyan. His speech, Saribekyan, referring to this part of the charge, said: "The distance from which the Fly can strike is 350-400 meters, bypass, I'm not so stupid as to shoot down the president's plane from the yard of my House. "And why? This is me? Or is this machine gun" PC ", where is it? I do not plead guilty."
Another defendant - a participant in the Karabakh war, Vladimir Arakelyan also did not plead guilty to the charges brought against him. "How did the national security agencies concoct such a mean deal?" Arakelyan said in his speech. He also found ridiculous that part of the charge, which refers to the intention of the group of people to shoot down the president's plane with a grenade. "In general, this criminal case was completely fabricated," he said. Defendants Khachik Avetisyan, Avetis Barseghyan, Vaginak Stepanyan, Artur Yeghiazaryan, Vahan Shahnazaryan, Harutyun Smbatyan and others also pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them.
To recall, according to the indictment leader of the group Arthur Vardanyan, in April 2015 he created a criminal group of RA citizens, members of the organized group illegally acquired, stored and transported a large number of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices, pursuing The goal of a coup in Armenia. However, this intention was not carried out due to the circumstances of the case. Vardanyan's will, since November, 25 of the NSS officers, the criminal group was uncovered and rendered harmless. It was found a large number of ammunition, explosives and other materials, military uniforms, as well as documents.