Aram Manukyan: As far as I understood, you represent the interests of Serzh Sargsyan
Armenian lawmaker Aram Manukyan claims that sitting next to the ‘instrument’ (defendant) on the dock should also be the perpetrators, who ordered the assault on him on December 11, 2014. Speaking in court on May 13, Mr Manukyan presented details about the incident that occurred to him last December, saying ‘it was a planned terrorist attack on a lawmaker.’ The MP also announced that he would not attend the trial and did not have any claims from the defendant. Liana Balyan, the lawyer of Arshak Svazyan, the 42-year-old man who attacked Aram Manukyan on December 11, asked the lawmaker whether he had swore Serzh Sargsyan ‘since an innocent man cannot be attacked and hit unnecessarily.’ “As far as I understood, you represent the interests of Serzh Sargsyan?” Aram Manukyan said in reply. After Judge Levon Avetistyan asked the lawmaker whether he can be reconciled with the defendant, Mr Manukyan said, “I cannot forgive the perpetrator.” However, the lawmaker did not give any names. The court has retired into a separate consulting room to discuss the issue of Manukyan’s participation in next court hearings. Aram Manukyan, a senior member of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), was confronted by an unknown assailant when he was returning home on December 11, 2014. The attacker did not say anything to Manukyan, but at once started hitting him in the face and then took to flight. HAK representatives connected the attack with the lawmaker’s political activities and said the assault was politically motivated. Arshak Svazyan, a local resident, was detained on suspicion of attacking Aram Manukyan. On December 20, Arshak Svazyan was charged with intentional infliction of bodily harm.
