Manvel Paramazyan, Mayor of Kajaran, Charged

Manvel Paramazyan, the Mayor of Kajaran, has been charged in a criminal case initiated 8 months ago, allegedly for kidnapping a citizen along with three other individuals. This information was revealed to reporters today, December 23, following an interrogation at the Investigative Committee of Armenia by his lawyer, Yervand Varosyan.

“The criminal case is related to the arrest of three citizens from Kajaran. Mayor Manvel Paramazyan has been charged for allegedly conspiring with those individuals to kidnap someone. This is complete nonsense. The young men who were arrested have long been released. From the news, I learned that the person who was recognized as the victim has already clarified the reality,” Varosyan stated.

He emphasized that the Mayor of Kajaran has no connection to this criminal case. “This is political revenge, a political persecution. We have declared our position. There is no way to link all of this to two aspects: first, Mayor Paramazyan's active participation in the military actions aimed at defending the homeland, and secondly, the recent public statements made by the mayors of Syunik, in which they criticized the Government and called for its resignation. It is ridiculous that 8 months later someone decides to file such charges. This indicates that the Mayor of Kajaran is such a clean person that nothing else could be found but this fairy tale,” Varosyan added.

Yervand Varosyan announced that the pre-trial body has decided to use detention as a preventive measure.