27/02/2014 16:04
Judge in Vazgen Khachikian case recuses himself
At the court hearing today of the criminal case of Vazgen Khachikian and other people involved in pension funds embezzlement, Judge Mersop Makian of the court of general jurisdiction of Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork-Marash districts recused himself, explaining that he was a classmate of Vazgen Khachikian.
The defense called the decision incomprehensible. “ I can’t understand why the judge remember this fact only today,” the lawyer Hovhannes Yenokian said.
“The decision says they have long been friends. Under the law, the court should have announced this when it accepted the case for examination. It is incomprehensible that they did not do it in the past few months. Only the judge can answer this question,” Yenokian said.