Yuri Khachaturov, the secretary general of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), can leave Armenia despite being prosecuted there on coup charges, investigators said on Thursday.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) made this clear following Russia’s strong criticism of the criminal proceedings launched against Khachaturov and former President Robert Kocharian.
The two men stand accused of “overthrow of the constitutional order.” The accusations strongly denied by them stem from the deadly suppression of opposition protests held in Yerevan in the wake of a disputed 2008 presidential election.
As recently as on July 27, the SIS asked a Yerevan court to allow it to arrest Kocharian and Khachaturov. The court remanded the ex-president in pre-trial custody but granted bail to Khachaturov. The separate rulings were handed down several hours after a phone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanian.
Lavrov on Tuesday denounced the prosecutions of the former Armenian officials as politically motivated.
Khachaturov’s lawyer, Mihran Poghosian, asked the SIS to allow the retired Armenian general to leave the country. Poghosian argued that his client still runs an international organization and needs to be able to perform his duties.
“He will definitely come back if need be,” the lawyer told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Thursday.
An SIS spokesperson said that the law-enforcement body investigating the 2008 violence does not object to his departure for the time being.
Khachaturov served as the Armenian army’s chief of staff from 2008-2016. Russia, Armenia and four other ex-Soviet states making up the CSTO appointed him as secretary general of the Russian-led defense pact in April 2017.
The Moscow daily “Kommersant” reported on Thursday that Moscow was “especially annoyed” by the criminal case against Khachaturov. “The Armenian score settling is dealing a colossal blow to the image of the whole organization,” it quoted an unnamed Kremlin source as saying. “Strangely, they don’t understand that.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it has formally asked the other CSTO members to “start a process of replacing the secretary general.” A senior Russian government official called the move “amazingly unprofessional.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said, for its part, that Yerevan must formally “recall” Khachaturov before asking the other CSTO states to replace him. According to “Kommersant,” in that case Moscow may well block the appointment of another Armenian secretary general.
The Armenian side insists that its actions were in conformity with the CSTO statutes. The next CSTO summit is expected to be held in November.
Facebook Forum