Vermishyan Sues Pashinyan

The former chairman of the State Committee of Urban Development, Vahagn Vermishyan, has filed a civil lawsuit against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Vermishyan's representative, lawyer Alexander Kochubayev, announced this on his Facebook page.

According to the lawyer, they have demanded the retraction of defamatory information as well as a public apology for damaging Vermishyan's honor, dignity, and business reputation.

“We have asked the court to register a violation of the right to presumption of innocence. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has disseminated information that he considers defamatory in his characteristic style, making an obviously unfounded and irresponsible statement that he grants honorary titles in Armenia. First of all, there is no legally binding court act stating that Vahagn Vermishyan is related to the act attributed to him, and in the absence of such an act, casting doubt on a person's guilt is an unacceptable and immoral step,” the lawyer wrote.

Kochubayev emphasized that the persecution of Vermishyan is clearly political, and according to international law definitions, his imprisonment meets all criteria of a political prisoner.

“Nikol Pashinyan did not ‘forgive’ Vahagn Vermishyan for working without special favors, for his pro-state actions, for revealing schemes of corruption involving the prime minister’s family and close circle, and for attempts to fight against them. We call on Nikol Pashinyan to honestly state why Vahagn Vermishyan is in custody (perhaps to grasp the underlying reasons for constructing the Cargo in Gyumri, or maybe concerning issues related to importing dust-like materials under the guise of cement from Iran, or maybe to obstructing the asphalt corruption business). Be sincere, Mr. Pashinyan: nothing has been forgotten, nothing will go unanswered,” he wrote.

It should be noted that Vahagn Vermishyan was charged with receiving large bribes. He was arrested on February 5, 2020. One of the individuals involved in Vermishyan's case is John Farakhoyan, the former head of the Yerevan investigative department of the Investigative Committee. The NSS had submitted a petition to court regarding his detention, which was also granted. However, Farakhoyan's defenders had filed a petition to release him on bail. The court granted his lawyers’ petition, and Farakhoyan was released.