20 Individuals Charged with Bribing Voters and Receiving Bribes

A group of individuals has been charged with bribing voters and receiving bribes as a result of an investigation conducted by the Special Investigative Service of Armenia, based on materials prepared by the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia.

It has been revealed that Susanna Tonoian, an organizer for the Republican Party of Armenia’s Artik regional committee, reached an agreement during the pre-election campaign period with Anahit Martirosyan, Sharmagh Harutyunyan, and Manushak Sedyan to bribe voters in the Shirak region to vote for the 'Pativ Unem' political alliance during the extraordinary parliamentary elections held on June 20, 2021.

To implement the criminal intent, Susanna Tonoian offered, promised, and provided a total of more than 800,000 Armenian drams in bribes to the aforementioned individuals, as well as to Erjanik Galoyan, Elena Sahakyan, and Gevorg Sargsyan. Part of the bribe was kept by them, while the remainder was distributed to voters in the region at an amount of 10,000 drams each.

Susanna Tonoian has been charged under parts 1 and 2 of Article 154.2 of the Armenian Criminal Code for attempting to bribe multiple persons. She has been chosen to be detained as a measure of restraint.

Nineteen other individuals, including Anahit Martirosyan, Sharmagh Harutyunyan, Erjanik Galoyan, Elena Sahakyan, Gevorg Sargsyan, and Manushak Sedyan, have been charged under various parts of Article 154.2 of the Criminal Code. Of the accused, 15 have provided confessions and accepted their charges.

Criminal prosecution against 8 of the 20 defendants has been terminated based on Article 72 (1) of the Criminal Code and Article 37 of the Criminal Procedure Code, under conditions of active remorse, while the pre-trial investigation has been concluded for the other 12 defendants.