Former Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Yuri Khachaturov, who was recalled from the senior post by Armenia after being accused of overthrowing the country’s constitutional order in 2008 post-election events, returned home on November 4, Khachaturov’s lawyer Mihran Poghosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service today.
“He returned on November 4 after the official decision on his dismissal was published,” he said, adding that before that the former Moscow-based official went to his native town in Georgia to visit his mother’s grave.
Khachaturov was formally charged in late July as part of the ongoing investigation into the March 1-2, 2008 post-election crackdown on the opposition. The 66-year-old colonel-general who was deputy defense minister at that time is accused of using the army to quell protests that followed a disputed presidential election. Ten people, including two security personnel, were killed in the events.
Investigations into those deadly events were reopened after the change of government in May. Armenia’s new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who came to power on the wave of anti-government protests, said that revealing the circumstances of the crime was one of the priorities of his administration.
Also in July, former President Robert Kocharian was also charged with overthrowing Armenia’s constitutional order by ordering the use of the army for the violent repression of the protests.
Unlike Kocharian, who was briefly arrested, Khachaturov, who served as CSTO secretary-general since May 2017, was granted bail and went back to Moscow to continue his duties. Armenia, however, initiated a formal process of his recalling, which was completed on November 2.
The issue of the appointment of the next CSTO secretary-general was due to be discussed at the Russian-led security grouping’s summit held in Astana, Kazakhstan, on November 8.
Prior to the summit several senior Armenian officials spoke in favor of Armenia’s retaining the rotating post until 2020. Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs neither confirmed, nor denied that other options may also be considered.
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