Lawyer accuses former Armenian ministry spokesman of treason

In Armenia, the former head of the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, has been accused of treason.

The report came from the Yerevan-based Hraparak newspaper, citing lawyer Vahan Hovhannisyan's statement, Caliber.Az reports.

“After the 44-day war, Artsrun Hovhannisyan was talked about so much that it seems there is nothing to say, but ... The other day I got acquainted with the materials of the case and came across the following information," he wrote.

"On October 19-20, 2020, the Azerbaijanis took Zangilan, hung their flag on the school building and posted a photo on the Internet. A day after that, on October 21, we received an order to carry out a combat mission in Zangilan but were ambushed, and 40 people were killed or captured.

The day after that, on October 22, Artsrun Hovhannisyan stated in the Haylur program that Azerbaijanis were killed in Zangilan, and the photo with the flag was fake.

Do you understand? Zangilan was taken, the flag was planted on the roof of the school, our actions failed, 40 people were killed or captured, and Artsrun says, do not believe it, we won an unprecedented victory.

And then he testifies to the investigator that he made a mistake,” the lawyer wrote.

According to Hovhannisyan, the Armenian people were fed with misinformation for 44 days.

“We will discuss whether there was treason in Artsrun's actions or not,” the lawyer said.

Artsrun Hovhannisyan acted as the spokesman to the Defence Ministry of Armenia during the 44-day Armenia-Azerbaijan war.