168 Hours: Those Arrested Before Ijevan Elections Released

According to the "168 Hours" newspaper, "There were serious public unrests in the Tavush region during the skirmishes that occurred in mid-July between Ijevan loggers and police. There were also arrests, with 13 individuals facing charges, of which 10 were detained.

According to the Investigative Committee, "Charges have been filed based on the 258th article of the Criminal Code, part 4, and part 3, first point, which includes hooliganism with the use of a weapon or weapon-like object, as well as hooliganism committed by a group of individuals or an organized group. Additionally, charges have been brought under the first part of Article 316 of the Criminal Code for using violence against a representative of the authorities." As of July 22, 11 individuals were still wanted in connection with the criminal case.

Recently, 168.am received information that those detained in connection with the Ijevan clashes have been released, and this is related to the upcoming elections for the Ijevan mayor. The current authorities, who have repeatedly criticized the former ones for releasing neighborhood leaders from prisons before elections to garner votes, are now, in fact, taking advantage of that resource by releasing those detained during the Ijevan clashes, perhaps in exchange for services rendered.

It is no secret that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appointed His Godfather, the Head of the National Assembly's "My Step" faction and former Tavush governor Vahe Qalumyan's brother, as the acting mayor of Ijevan, anticipating him to be the elected mayor in the upcoming elections.

By the way, the Ijevan mayoral elections were supposed to take place in September; however, due to the clashes caused by logging incidents, Nikol Pashinyan's reputation had been significantly damaged, leading to the decision to postpone the elections to a later date to better prepare and avoid surprises during the voting process.

In Ijevan, it is said that the Prime Minister's godfather, Hayk Qalumyan, has personally been visiting the families of the detainees, promising to mediate for their release if they work for him during the elections and bring in votes.

It is noteworthy that if these individuals had committed actions of grave public danger, inflicting bodily harm on representatives of the authorities, why are they now free? And if their actions were not that severe, why were they detained in the first place? In response to our inquiry regarding whether the mentioned detainees are indeed free, the spokesperson for the Investigative Committee, Naira Harutyunyan, stated that the court had modified the detention measure for all of them, and they have been released.

More details can be found in today’s issue of the newspaper.