A court in Yerevan beginning the trial of 20 people accused of plotting a coup détat on Dec. 2, 2016 (Photo: Photolur)
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Twenty people went on trial in Yerevan on Friday, accused of being part of a clandestine armed group that plotted to seize power in Armenia.
The trial began one year after more than a dozen individuals were detained in a dawn raid on their hideout in Yerevan’s Nork-Marash district conducted by Armenian security forces. They found large quantities of weapons and explosives stashed there.
More than 20 other people were arrested in the following weeks. Some of them were subsequently released pending investigation.
The arrested group was apparently led by Artur Vartanian, a 35-year-old man who reportedly lived abroad until his return to Armenia in April 2015.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) claims that the core members of Vartanian’s group called Hayots Vahan Gund (Armenian Shield Regiment) underwent secret military training in a village in central Armenia in August-September 2015. It says that Vartanian and his associates drew up detailed plans for the seizure of the presidential administration, government, parliament, Constitutional Court and state television buildings in Yerevan.
Vartanian denied the coup charges when he briefly spoke to reporters in the courtroom. “If defending Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is a crime, then I’m a criminal,â€
