Arushanyan Prepared a Serious Crime, Which However Was Not Completed: SCC

The Special Investigative Service of Armenia has confirmed through adequate evidence obtained during the preliminary investigation of a criminal case that Arush Arushanyan, the head of the community of Goris in the Syunik Province and the 32nd candidate in the electoral list of the "Armenia" alliance, prepared a serious crime during the pre-election campaign for the extraordinary parliamentary elections of the Republic of Armenia with the direct intention of securing the maximum votes from the electorate of the mentioned community for personal and group interests.

This serious crime involved bribing two or more voters to participate in the elections and vote in favor of the "Armenia" alliance. Additionally, through Lusine Avetian, the administrative head of the community of Karahunj, Arushanyan organized coercion for the voters of the same locality to participate and vote for the "Armenia" alliance in the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 20, 2021.

For the realization of his criminal intent, in June 2021, a few days before the elections, Arushanyan met with Lusine Avetian in her office and offered to provide monetary assistance after the elections to those voters who would promise to vote for the "Armenia" alliance. In this way, Arushanyan prepared for a serious crime, which, however, was not completed due to circumstances beyond his control, as Avetian refused to meet with voters and offer them bribes in the form of monetary assistance.

Furthermore, on April 28, 2021, at Arushanyan's request, Avetian organized a meeting between him and a group of residents from Karahunj who requested financial support from Arushanyan to solve various issues. Subsequently, the mentioned voters were provided with monetary support ranging from 100,000 to 220,000 AMD through a bank transfer from the Goris municipality.

Later, during the pre-election campaign, Arushanyan organized coercion for the voters of the community of Karahunj to participate in the election and vote in favor of the "Armenia" alliance. Specifically, he instructed Avetian, who was in a service-dependent relationship with him, to take over the responsibilities of managing the aforementioned alliance’s pre-election headquarters in Karahunj and to gather all resources, including those who had previously received financial assistance from the Goris municipality, to ensure their participation in the elections to vote for the "Armenia" alliance.

Under Arushanyan's organization, Avetian, in turn, personally coerced a group of residents from Karahunj during various meetings and phone calls over the following days after June 7, 2021, using their dependence due to their socio-economic hardships, to participate in the elections on June 20, 2021, and vote in favor of the "Armenia" alliance.

The actions of Avetian, as organized by Arushanyan, disrupted the essence of the principle of freedom and voluntariness in exercising the electoral rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and the electoral code of the Republic of Armenia.

For the above-mentioned criminal actions, Arush Arushanyan has been charged under paragraph 2 of part 4 of Article 38-154.2 and paragraph 2 of part 4 of Article 35-154.2 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. Pre-trial detention has been chosen as a preventive measure for him.

Lusine Avetian has been charged under paragraph 2 of part 4 of Article 154.2 and parts 2 and 3 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code. A preventive measure of detention has been selected for her, which was later replaced by a bail.

The preliminary investigation has been completed. The criminal case has been submitted to the prosecutor with a request for approval and referral to the court.

Note: The person suspected or accused of the alleged crime is considered innocent until proven guilty under the procedure prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia through a legally binding court verdict.