Travel Ban Imposed on Former Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan

The former mayor of Yerevan, Taron Margaryan, has been subjected to a travel ban as a preventive measure. This was announced by Taron Margaryan's lawyer, Benik Galstyan, on his Facebook page.

He specifically noted, “In August 2018, a rather absurd criminal case was initiated, which is still under investigation at the RA Investigative Committee's Chief Department for Combating Organized Crime (the absurdity lies in the fact that this criminal case concerns nothing, or as a well-known journalist, who is concurrently holding the position of Prime Minister of RA would say, ‘the case is about nothing’). On February 14, 2021, at 02:00 AM, charges were brought against Taron Andranik Margaryan under the second part of Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code.

A travel ban has been imposed on Mr. Margaryan. My client and I were generally reluctant to publicize this circumstance; however, since the RA Investigative Committee has released a press statement detailing Mr. Margaryan's so-called 'crimes of the century' with some extremely intricate legal terminology, I am compelled to briefly address several points.

Thus, my client has been in Moscow, Russia, since February 7, 2021, due to health issues. On February 11, 2021, we learned that the investigative authority had decided to involve Mr. Margaryan as a defendant, and on the same day, we contacted the investigator and arranged for Mr. Margaryan to return to Armenia on February 13 and present himself to the investigative committee.

As always, Mr. Margaryan kept his promise and returned to Armenia on February 13 at 23:05, immediately appearing before the investigative authority, where he was charged. On that day, we found out that the preliminary investigation body had, ‘forgotting’ that we had reached an agreement on February 11, declared Mr. Margaryan wanted on the same day.

In any case, my client and I have requested the investigator to clarify the content of the charges and elucidate the essence of several points stated within, ensuring the principle of the specificity of the accusation and allowing us to understand exactly why Mr. Margaryan is being charged (in layman's terms, what exactly he has done, what he has not done, for whom or why he did and so on).

We also requested the investigator provide us access to the documents referenced in the charge (individual acts, floor plans, geodetic and urban development packages, etc.), expressing our readiness to give detailed testimony afterward and noting that without reviewing those documents, my client’s testimony would be merely formal.

To date, the honorable investigative authority has not responded to our requests, which are not whims, but rather a requirement of the Convention, without which it will only be possible to effectively implement Mr. Margaryan’s fundamental right to defense.

In lieu of this, the RA Investigative Committee has found time to spread the aforementioned statement, leaving me with the impression that charges have been brought against Mr. Margaryan solely to serve the purpose of disseminating that statement.

I must note that Mr. Margaryan approaches this farce with humor. Additionally, I want to stress an important point: the investigators and prosecutors overseeing this case are highly professional individuals, so it can be confidently stated that the actions being undertaken in this criminal case, which violate the rights and freedoms of my client and others, are not the result of inexperience or ignorance, but rather a direct result of intent… as to where this intent originates and what goal it pursues, we will surely uncover later.

It is also timely to recall an old Soviet prosecutorial aphorism.”