The court will examine documents containing military secrets in the case of the commander of the Mataghis military unit, Sevak Abrahamyan, behind closed doors. On October 27, Judge Artush Gabrielyan of the Shengavit branch of the Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan made the decision to hold the hearing behind closed doors.

During the previous session, prosecutor Vazgen Vardanyan handed over 16 secret documents to the court in a sealed envelope. The prosecutor requested that the hearing be held behind closed doors, because the documents presented to the court contain information containing military secrets. Abrahamyan’s lawyer, Arman Tamrazyan, said today that there are still confidential documents in the criminal proceedings.

“If we do it behind closed doors, all sessions should be held behind closed doors, because witnesses will also be questioned about these documents. These documents are just normative legal acts with a secret seal. Witnesses will be questioned about these documents , that is, the entire stage of consideration of evidence must take place in secret. The prosecutor’s office transferred the case to the court without a secret seal, where the judge’s assistant, the judge and any person likely to open the file had the opportunity to become aware of the case.

In other words, the state had no interest in keeping this secret. However, saying that normative legal acts are secret and that no one should participate in their research is, I think, a dual approach. I am not in favor of closing hearings in general,” said the defense lawyer. Sevak Abrahamyan also said that they have nothing to hide and asked the court to hold public hearings as much as possible After listening to the opinions of the parties and discussing the prosecution’s motion, the court decided to conduct the investigation of the case behind closed doors today.