After the 44-day war of 2020, as we reported earlier, a criminal case was also initiated against the former First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Tiran Khachatryan (under Part 3 of Article 376 of the Criminal Code adopted on 18.04.2003: negligent attitude towards service).

According to the accusation, having been appointed as the commander of the southern group of troops by the combat order of the head of the RA Armed Forces General Staff, Between October 7-17, 2020, showed a negligent attitude towards the performance of his official duties, that is, he did not create a command point of the southern group with all its elements, during the conduct of combat operations he did not fully perform a number of measures characteristic of management, which inadvertently caused serious consequences.

And the said, according to the Investigative Committee, led to the failure of the defense of the army character of the Armed Forces, undermined the troop management system, failed to fulfill the set combat task, as a result the enemy took advantage of the created situation and unimpededly took possession of a strategic height, broke through the existing terrain, in another case bypassed his own units and, developing the attack, took control of the territories entrusted to the group’s defense:

In this context, let us remind that 168.am-ը՝ “Ashot Pashinyan, his commander during the war, the retreat from Alpasha hill and the case of Tiran Khachatryan” with the text article: was published, where there are notable episodes.

Let’s add that on October 20, 2020 Nikol Pashinyan announced on his Facebook page that «First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Tiran Khachatryan and Major General Andranik Piloyan, Commander of the 5th Army Corps especially during the last hours, on the battlefield, they crowned their name with glory and will be awarded the title of national hero.”

Of course, later after the war, the representatives of the government began to say that the former head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia Onik Gasparyan suggested that they be awarded the title of National Hero of the Republic of Armenia. In other words, Nikol Pashinyan, who declared himself supreme commander during the war, also placed this responsibility on the military leadership. And Tiran Khachatryan did not take the “attributes” of the title of national hero of the RA, the court demanded that Andranik Piloyan take all the titles he had in the context of the non-war criminal case.

Anyway, within the framework of Tiran Khachatryan’s case, let’s look at an important circumstance in the legal dimension, which may be encountered in other cases related to the 44-day period.

It refers to the following questions: was the alleged crime committed outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia or in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, if it was committed in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, where is the place of commission and where should the jurisdiction of the place of commission be?

168.amin the conversation with about this Armen Andrikyan, one of Tiran Khachatryan’s defenders mentioned.

“The problem is as follows. Criminal proceedings of the Code Articles 260 and 261 provide for subject and territorial jurisdiction. The subject matter judgment regulates the specifics of the cases subject to examination by specific courts, for example, the cases subject to examination by the courts of general jurisdiction, and also in connection with the corruption crimes provided by the Criminal Code, which are already examined by the Anti-Corruption Court. This is the objective criticism.

And Article 261 of the Criminal Procedure Code refers to the territorial jurisdiction, according to which, where the alleged crime was committed, the case should be investigated by the court of that territory, regardless of where the investigative authority is.

But the 4th part of that article provides that «Proceedings regarding a crime allegedly committed on the territory of another state are subject to the court in whose jurisdiction the last place of residence or registration of the accused is located, and if it was not possible to determine it, then to the court in whose jurisdiction the seat of the preliminary investigation body that last conducted the pre-trial proceedings is located. There is no other legal norm here, that is, the Code of Criminal Procedure clearly defines it.

Now, if they consider that the territory of the Republic of Artsakh is the territory of Azerbaijan, under these conditions, for example, in the case of Tiran Khachatryan, it turns out that the alleged crime was committed “in the territory of another state”. and in this case, according to Article 261, Part 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the case should be examined at Tiran Khachatryan’s address of residence or registration, but the case is examined in the court of first instance of Syunik region:

We raised this issue during the court session, we were told that there is some document, I don’t know what it is about, or it is an accepted practice that the crimes committed in Artsakh should be investigated in the court of general jurisdiction of Syunik region, but we did not receive any other exhaustive answer. I would like to add that all this was said in the discussion on the issue of the counter-judgment within the framework of the preliminary proceedings, and we moved on, the court did not change the counter-judgment, of course, we are not facing a problem at this moment., but a legal problem, in general, I see here.”

Let us add that on February 18, 2025, at the first court session in the case of Tiran Khachatryan, lawyer Andrikyan to observation.

“In the legal dimension, the territory of the Republic of Armenia is the territory under the legislation of the jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia. It is stated in the indictment: in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Now let’s understand whether it is the territory of the Republic of Armenia, do you have the authority to investigate the case, or should it be investigated by the place of residence, the act was committed outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia?”

The prosecution responded that in 2020 according to the logic of November 9, the Republic of Armenia was the guarantor of the security of the RA Armed Forces stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“There is no question of subordination, and at least from a moral point of view, I think that the alleged crime took place in Artsakh, in the territory under the control of the RA, at least from a military point of view.” the prosecutor continued.

By the way, later, during the court session in the case of Tiran Khachatryan, when the issue of changing the restraining order was discussed, the prosecution The RA Armed Forces considered it a small social group where, perhaps, according to his logic, the hierarchical bond is strong. 

These are delicate issues that, in fact, involve certain risks that we would not like to “open up”.

And Tiran Khachatryan’s lawyer informed us that at the moment the court case is at the stage of questioning witnesses.

“Currently, more than 10 witnesses have been questioned. Among the witnesses subpoenaed in the case are Onik Gasparyan, Artak Budaghyan, the former head of the RA Armed Forces General Staff, both of whom have not yet been interrogated.”

Earlier we wrote that the number of witnesses exceeds two dozen.

It should be noted that according to information, Artak Budaghyan himself testified against Tiran Khachatryan. 

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