No Political Context in Arsen Babayan's Arrest, Says Simonian

Everything is possible, except for the notion that this is political pressure or has political context. This was stated today, October 22, by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonian, during a conversation with reporters, responding to a question about whether there is a political context to Arsen Babayan's arrest.

“Errors, imbalance – anything is possible, but I assure you, there has been no political intervention in the Republic of Armenia, nor can there be. I was saddened to hear this news, but I assure you, such a thing is excluded,” said the Deputy Speaker.

It should be noted that Babayan was arrested yesterday, on October 21. Following the arrest, National Assembly member Arman Babajanyan wrote on his Facebook page: “Based on my report, the former deputy head of the National Assembly staff, Arsen Babayan, has been arrested.”

According to the Special Investigative Service, a new criminal case has been initiated under Article 314, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code (committing official forgery) concerning a previously identified new criminal offense in connection with the reported case. This case has been combined with the criminal case regarding the usurpation of power. This relates to the instances of committing official forgeries based on group interests during the process of the former President of the Constitutional Court, Gagik Harutyunyan, resigning from his position.

It is noted that the act stipulated in Part 1 of Article 314 of the Criminal Code is punishable by a fine ranging from two hundred to five hundred times the minimum wage, or imprisonment for a maximum of four years. It is important to note that a person cannot be deprived of liberty, including arrest or detention, for acts specified in Part 1 of Article 314 of the Criminal Code that were committed before October 21, 2018, in accordance with the law on the declaration of amnesty related to the 2800th anniversary of the founding of Erebuni-Yerevan and the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of the First Republic of Armenia.

It should be noted that the alleged act by Babayan was committed during the process of Gagik Harutyunyan's resignation, and Harutyunyan resigned in March 2018. Since the amnesty applies to acts committed up until, and including, October 21, 2018, it turns out that Arsen Babayan has been arrested on suspicion of an alleged act to which the apparent amnesty is applicable.

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