Gagik Tsarukyan Detained

The Yerevan City Court of General Jurisdiction, under the chairmanship of Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan, decided today, September 25, to choose detention as a preventive measure for the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan.

It is noteworthy that the examination of the investigator's motion took about 9 hours. Tsarukyan's lawyers had submitted a motion for the judge's self-recusal, which was rejected.

After the examination of the motion, one of Tsarukyan's lawyers, Yerem Sargsyan, stated in a conversation with journalists that the basis for detention, according to the prosecution, is the risk of Tsarukyan obstructing the proceedings of the criminal case.

Recall that the defense lawyers have submitted a report about the crime to the Prosecutor General and the Special Investigative Service. They stated that they have factual data indicating that as a result of illegal interference by certain officials, it was “decided” that the Court of Cassation must reject the submitted cassation appeals as quickly as possible, so that the judicial case could be registered in the Yerevan City Court of General Jurisdiction and examined as quickly as possible, leading to Gagik Tsarukyan's detention.

Furthermore, Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan submitted a motion to the National Assembly to deprive Tsarukyan of parliamentary immunity, which was granted. However, the Yerevan City Court of General Jurisdiction rejected the investigator's motion for Tsarukyan's detention.

According to the decision of the first instance court, there was sufficient reasonable suspicion in the case. This decision was appealed by both parties. The prosecution demanded that the first instance court's decision be overturned and Tsarukyan detained, while the lawyers submitted several appeals, one of which argued that the case should be investigated by the Special Investigative Service.

It should be noted that the Court of Appeal rejected the lawyers' appeal, while partially satisfying the prosecution's appeal by overturning the first instance court's decision and sending it for new examination.

Subsequently, Gagik Tsarukyan's legal team and the Prosecutor General submitted cassation appeals. The Court of Cassation did not accept the parties’ appeals.

Gagik Tsarukyan has been charged under Article 154.2 of the Armenian Criminal Code (receiving bribes from voters by candidates, parties, or referendum campaign initiatives, or giving bribes to voters by candidates, parties, or referendum campaign initiatives, or interfering with the exercise of the voter's free will). It should be noted that several former members of the National Assembly are status defendants in this criminal case, including Abraham Manukyan, Vank Asatryan, and Sedrak Arustamyan.