Abraham Manukyan Has Not Testified Against Gagik Tsarukyan, Authorities' Hopes Unfulfilled

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports: Former MP from the Prosperous Armenia Party, Abraham Manukyan, is being held in custody with hopes that he will testify against Gagik Tsarukyan. However, according to our information, up until this moment, the authorities' hopes have not been fulfilled, as Manukyan has not provided any testimony either before or after his arrest.

It is worth mentioning that he has been charged under Article 38-154.2, part 2 of the RA Criminal Code, for assisting in vote-buying. On June 27, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, under the chairmanship of Judge Karen Farkhoyan, approved the National Security Service's investigator's request for his custody. Manukyan has been transferred to the "Yerevan-Centered" penitentiary.

According to the charges, in 2017, Gagik Tsarukyan invited Vazgen Poghosyan, who was nominated by the Prosperous Armenia Party in the Gegarkunik region, and proposed that he participate in the elections on the condition that he secures 9,000 votes in the region. In accordance with the agreement with Tsarukyan, Poghosyan sought the necessary funds from Sedrak Arustamyan and Abraham Manukyan. During the 2017 parliamentary elections, these two were responsible for financial matters of the Prosperous Armenia Party.

Vazgen Poghosyan has told law enforcement that he received a batch consisting of 10,000 drams, totaling 90 million drams, from them. To secure votes, he distributed the money among members of the Prosperous Armenia Party and activists who came to him with lists to receive these funds for disbursing to voters.

However, what is noteworthy is that Vazgen Poghosyan did not provide clear testimony against Manukyan during the first two times, stating only on the third occasion, on June 8, that he received money from Manukyan. A week later, he retracted his statement, saying he could not definitively say whether it was a bribe or legitimate campaign expenses. During the confrontation, he also did not assert that he had received money from Manukyan as a bribe.

It should be noted that Vazgen Poghosyan is the chairman of the "Yerevanshin" company and is accused of bribing the former chairman of the Urban Development Committee, Vahagn Vermishyan. According to law enforcement, documents related to the Prosperous Armenia Party were found with Poghosyan back in February, but he did not wish to comment at that time. Remember, on April 1, Poghosyan's detention condition was changed to a 3 million dram bail.

For more details, see today's issue of the newspaper.