Lieutenant colonel Samvelyan in Armenia sentenced to four months of custody on the case of an attempt of explosion of "Arsnakar" restaurant

The court of general jurisdiction of Avan and Nor-Nork communities of Yerevan sentenced Lieutenant colonel Vardan Samvelyan detained for suspicion of an attempt of explosion of "Arsnakar" restaurant to four month of custody, Press Service of the court informed.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that at night of July, 1, Vardan Samvelyan came to "Arsnakar" restaurant with explosives. According to the investigation, he threatened to explode the restaurant where his friend, a military doctor, was violently beaten up. However, after negotiations with law enforcement officers the lieutenant colonel changed his mind.

On October, 4, the court under the chairmanship of judge Armen Vardapetyan sentenced Vardan Samvelyan to four months of custody and fined him to a sum of 200 thousand drams (about 480 dollars) for illegal storage, transporting and bearing arms and ammunition.

Vardan Samvelyan acknowledged himself guilty.

It should be mentioned that during trail the parties did not discuss the question of how the officer got arms and ammunition and why he entered "Arsnakar" restaurant at night with such a great amount of arms and explosives. These questions were not mentioned in the indictment, either.

"The court granted the motion of the defense to consider the case summarily", Samvelyan's attorney Ovanes Arutiunyan said today.

The lawyer also said that he had no information of Samvelyan's intention to explode the restaurant. "If mass media have such information they can report it to the investigative bodies", he declared.

According to the attorney, lieutenant colonel Vardan Samvelyan had been kept in the investigative isolation ward since July, 1, which means that his custody term expires in November. Hence, the party of defense is not going to appeal against the verdict in higher courts.