Ara Babloyan and Arsen Babayan's Criminal Cases Sent to Prosecutor's Office

The criminal case against former National Assembly President Ara Babloyan and former Deputy Chief of the National Assembly Staff Arsen Babayan has been forwarded to the Prosecutor's Office for the approval of the indictment. This was reported by the Special Investigative Service.

The Special Investigative Service stated: “The criminal case being investigated by the Special Investigative Service regarding the usurpation of the powers of the Constitutional Court of Armenia and the commission of official forgery has been completed with respect to former National Assembly President Ara Babloyan and the acting Deputy Chief of the National Assembly Staff Arsen Babayan. On December 13, 2019, the case was sent to the supervising prosecutor with a request to forward it to court.”

As previously reported, Ara Babloyan is charged under Articles 300 and 314 (Part 1) of the Criminal Code of Armenia for usurping the powers of the Constitutional Court alongside a group of officials and for committing official forgery. Arsen Babayan is charged under Articles 38-300 and 314 (Part 1) for assisting Ara Babloyan and other officials in usurping the powers of the Constitutional Court, as well as for official forgery.

It should be noted that Ara Babloyan was officially charged on October 28. A measure of restraint in the form of a signature not to leave was chosen against him, which he does not accept. Similarly, the measure of restraint initially chosen for Arsen Babayan was detention, which was later replaced with personal guarantees. The guarantees for Babayan were provided by Avetik Ishkhanyan, the president of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, and Sisak Gabrielyan, a member of the “My Step” faction in the National Assembly. Babayan does not recognize himself as guilty in the charges brought against him. Former Constitutional Court President Gagik Harutyunyan was also interrogated in the capacity of a witness in the same criminal case.