YEREVAN. Dec 3 (Interfax) - A court in Yerevan has rejected a petition for lifting the restrictions on border crossing by former secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Yury Khachaturov.
"There is no document restricting border crossing by Khachaturov. But the fact is that my client was prevented from crossing the border. At the same time, the investigative body failed to produce the relevant document. I am asking the court to resolve the matter and lift the restriction," Khachaturov's lawyer Migran Pogosyan said at the hearing.
Khachaturov himself said that he was prevented from traveling to Georgia, where his parents and younger brother are buried.
Prosecutor Petros Petrosyan said the petition was unsubstantiated because border checkpoints had no information on such a ban.
Judge Anna Danibekyan ruled to decline the defense's petition.
"Neither the court, nor the preliminary investigation body applied a border crossing restriction. The petition is rejected," Dnibekyan said.
Khachaturov is being investigated in the so-called March 1 case.
The main suspect is former president Robert Kocharyan. He was arrested in July 2018 after he was charged with overthrowing the constitutional system during protests in Yerevan in March 2008. At the time, Kocharyan was leaving his post and preparing to hand over his powers to Serzh Sargsyan, who had won the presidential election. Supporters of presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan disagreed with the voting results and staged protests. The authorities dispersed the multi-thousand strong protest. Ten people were killed and over 250 injured in the unrest.
The other co-defendants are former defense minister Seyran Ohanyan and former deputy prime minister Armen Gevorkyan.