In the photo - the commander of SPS regiment, Major Khachatour Hovakimian

During yesterday's trial of the editor of "Armenian Time" newspaper, Nikole Pashinyan, four police officers were interrogated. In this case of accusation (violence against a police officer), 19 of the examined witnesses were policemen, Pashinyan's accusation was based on these testimonies.

At the beginning of the trial the defending party submitted a motion for examining also the witnesses mentioned by them, but Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan postponed the discussion of the motion and currently the testimonies of the witnesses, in favour of the prosecutor's office, are heard.

Examined as a witness, the SPS regiment Commander, Major Khachatour Hovakimyan, mentioned in his testimony, that he had seen Nikole Pashinyan among the participants of the march, with a loudspeaker in his hand, and heard him uttering "People, join us!" and other similar provocative expressions. In his words, he hadn't noticed Pashinyan hitting anybody, but had seen him tugging the policemen and heard him making slogans addressed to the police and to the president of the Republic, like "No to serjeantism!" When the defender asked to which president this expression was addressed, the witness answered - to Serj Sargsyan.

In answer to the question of the defender, whether on the 23th of October the president was Serj Sargsyan, the witness said "Yes". The regiment commander Hovakimyan later corrected his mistake, saying, that he had mixed it up. This witness was the very policeman, who, with his official car, had brought Nikole Pashinian, the head editor of  "Chorrord Ishkhanoutioun" ("Forth Power") Shokher Matevossian and the leader of the "Jokhovrdavaroutioun yev Hayreniq" ("Democracy and Homeland") Petros Makeyan to the police station.

The attorney Ervand Varosyan tried to find out from mayor Hovakimyan whether he had hit on Pahinyan's eye on October 23, 2007. The witness said that he had neither hit him nor had seen that anybody hit the journalist. Whereas Nikole Pashinyan stated that the Khachatur Hovakimyan himself had hit him. 

"Khachatour Hovakimyan was very active at the moment of the incident. He hit Nikole and injured him. His testimony obviously did not correspond to the reality and contradicted to his prior investigation testimony", explained Pashinyan's defender Lousineh Sahakian. According to her words, during the prior investigation the policemen were guided by one version of the incident, and now their testimonies were adapted to another one.

She also mentioned that the defending party is going to submit a motion for bringing witness Hovakimyan to criminal liability for applying violence against Nikole Pashinian.

The next witness, the SPS company Commander Andranik Araqelyan, noted that he had seen Pashinyan at the moment of the incident, but unlike the previous witness, he hadn't noticed any bustle between Pashinyan and other people.

Today's trial of Nikole Pashinyan, on the case of the 23th of October, 2007, ended with testimonies of another two police officers.

The SPS regiment Commander Vardan Gevorgian told that on the day of the incident he had witnessed scuffle between the demonstrators and the police, but he hadn't seen Pashinyan hitting any of the policemen.

The next witness, the head of the Prophylactics department of the Central Police Office Armen Hovakimian, hadn't seen Nikole Pashinyan hitting the injured police officer as well. Only two of four interrogated witnesses asserted that "the order of imprisonment was given by Afyan".