Judge Gagik Heboyan Charged with Accepting Large-Scale Bribery

The Special Investigative Service of the Republic of Armenia has established sufficient evidence during the preliminary investigation of a criminal case, proving that Gagik Heboyan, a judge at the General Jurisdiction Court of Kotayk Province, received a particularly large bribe with the assistance of attorney Vahagn Danielyan from the Bar Association of Armenia.

According to the accusations, the judge demanded a bribe equivalent to 3,500 USD (1,714,160 AMD) on March 6, 2019, in exchange for taking action in favor of the plaintiff in a civil case he was reviewing, specifically to exempt them from paying a state fee of 3,580,000 AMD.

As a result of negotiations with the citizen, Gagik Heboyan reached a final agreement to receive a bribe equivalent to 2,500 USD (1,224,400 AMD) for carrying out the aforementioned action. To avoid personally collecting the bribe and being exposed, the judge sought assistance from his acquaintance, attorney Vahagn Danielyan. On March 27, 2019, as part of an operational investigative measure conducted by the National Security Service, the citizen handed over the 2,500 USD bribe to the attorney, who transferred it to the judge on the same day.

Gagik Heboyan has been charged under points 2 and 3 of part 4 of Article 311 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia for accepting a particularly large bribe.

Vahagn Danielyan has been charged under points 2 and 3 of part 4 of Article 38-311 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia for aiding in the acceptance of a particularly large bribe.

Pre-trial detention has been applied as a measure of constraint against G. Heboyan, while the detention of V. Danielyan was replaced with an alternative measure of bail on May 8, 2019.

The preliminary investigation of the criminal case has been completed. The case has been sent to the supervising prosecutor with an indictment for forwarding to the court.