Komandos Submits Guarantee for Aram Harutyunyan's Imprisoned Associate

The Yerevan City Court of General Jurisdiction, presided over by Judge Armen Vardapetyan, has today, on July 2, decided to leave unchanged the incarceration of Viktor Martirosyan, who is charged in a separate part of the case against former Minister of Environment Aram Harutyunyan. This was stated in a conversation with NEWS.am by Martirosyan's defense attorney Hrant Ananyan.

Viktor Martirosyan is accused of assisting former Environment Minister Harutyunyan in receiving bribes from businessman Silva Hambardzumyan and in money laundering. His case, along with that of another co-defendant in the bribery case, Araks Dilyan, was recently separated from the main bribery case and sent to court. During preparations for the trial, the court addressed the issue of the defendants' preventive measures, and yesterday, the matter was examined in a closed-door hearing.

During the discussion of the preventive measure, Martirosyan's defense submitted a motion to the court requesting either the dismissal of the incarceration or the replacement of the preventive measure with bail. As bail, Martirosyan's lawyers proposed 20 million drams, which the court rejected.

According to Hrant Ananyan, there are no grounds to keep his client in custody. He argued that there is no reasonable likelihood that Viktor Martirosyan, if released, would influence individuals involved in the case.

Ananyan pointed out that his client is a PhD, a respected individual, an author of numerous articles and monographs, and under such circumstances, the risk of him evading the trial is nonexistent.

The attorney mentioned that they also submitted letters of guarantee from several prominent individuals in the education sector and national heroes, including Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan (Komandos). The individuals who provided letters of guarantee informed the court that they personally know Martirosyan and vouch that if he remains at liberty, he will not evade the investigation and will not engage in illegal conduct; however, under these circumstances, the court rejected their motion.

The court ruled that personal guarantees cannot serve as a basis for predicting Martirosyan's future behavior.

For more details, refer to the original source.