Zhora Zakaryan: I did not know that the above mentioned money belonged to Samvel Babayan (video)
Four defendants: Zhora Zakaryan, Andranik Kocharyan, Karen Kocharyan and Davit Harutyunyan, who were charged with money laundering today, refused to give evidence during the court hearing on the caseof Samvel Babayan, the former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army, and others. One of the defendants, Zhora Zakaryan, did not even want to comment on the charge. Arshak Vardanyan, judge of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts of Yerevan, asked "Do you insist on your preliminary testimony? Don't you have a wish to give testimony here in the courtroom? Don't you want to answer the questions?" The prosecutor filed a motion to release the defendant's preliminary testimony. Andranik Kocharyan had provided Zhora Zakaryan with a 20 euro banknote to eliminate red spots but Andranik could not manage it. Then two banknotes worth 20 and 50 euros were provided. However, he wanted to erase the spots with another material and ask for money. The judge read his preliminary testimony: "I did not know how the banknotes were going to be used after I cleaned them. Andranik told me that his brother Karen had given him the money. I am not close to him, but I knew that the money belonged to another person. I did not know that the above mentioned money belonged to Samvel Babayan," was said in Zhora Zakaryan's testimony. Andranik Kocharyan, in the testimony given in the preliminary investigation, accepted him as a partly guilty. He mentioned that the money had been given to him by his brother. During the preliminary investigation, Andranik Kocharyan's brother, Karen Kocharyan, said that Samvel Babayan had given him the money. David Harutyunyan, one of the defendants, used his connections so that the fraudulent 5,000 euros was transferred to Armenia from the RF, according to the preliminary investigation body. According to the pretrial testimony, he received the money, but could not convey to Karen Kocharyan as employees of the National Security Service detained him. Samvel Babayan, Sanasar Gabrielyan and Armen Poghosyan will give testimony during the secons session.
