Andreas Ghukasyan, a candidate who ran for the presidency of Armenia in 2013 and is now on trial for inciting violence in the 2016 Sasna Dzrer incident, categorically denied the charges in a Yerevan court today, declaring that he never called on the public to employ violence or join the militants who has seized a Yerevan police building.

“My aim was to start negotiations between Sasna Dzrer and the regime to avoid fratricide,” Ghukasyan said, adding that the government was responsible for the mayhem that occurred in the Sari Tagh neighborhood on Yerevan.

Top photo: Andreas Ghukasyan (second from right)