Alumian: Arayik Budaghian met police chief V. Gasparian

“When I say that the video was edited, I don’t mean that the non-edited video shows a balcony and Suren Khachatrian standing on it,” Artak Budaghian’s lawyer, Hayk Alulian, said at a meeting with journalists today.

Commenting on the reports that Suren Kahachatrian was standing on the balcony throughout the incident, Alumian noted that such reports have some grounds. In his words, A. Budaghian has already testified twice and each time he was in grave mental and physical condition.

He stressed that a vendetta is out of the question and that his client and his relatives pin their hopes on the law and believe that justice will triumph.

Asked to comment on the rumors that Suren Khachatrian plans to leave Armenia, Alumian said: “I don’t understand what he meant by saying that he will leave Armenia when his son’s problems are settled. Will it happen in 15 years or will his son be released some time later?”

The lawyer also announced that Artak Budaghian’s brother –Arayik Budaghian met with Chief of Armenian Police Vladimir Gasparian.

“There is information which is not to be made public because if the two men agreed not to speak on an issue, such information is confidential,” he noted.

Asked if the recent disclosures of ex-mayor of Goris Samvel Harutyunian may help, at least indirectly, Hayk Alumian said that in connection with the mentioned statements he had already asked Armenia’s prosecutor general to inform him if a criminal case was opened into those crimes.

‘I think that a number of alleged crimes may be useful as circumstances characterizing Suren Khachatrian, even if they will not throw light on this case,” the lawyer stated.