Former Sisian Mayor Arthur Sargsyan Released Overnight

The former mayor of Sisian and member of the ‘Armenia’ faction, Arthur Sargsyan, has been released overnight. This was confirmed by lawyer Emin Khachatryan in an interview with 'Pastinfo'.

It is noteworthy that Arthur Sargsyan was detained following the snap parliamentary elections in Armenia, in accordance with promises made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during the electoral campaign, declaring that “rebellious mayors will face the criminal code and penitentiary institutions.”

Mayors in Syunik who were raising security issues relevant to their regions and opposing the government’s actions of transferring territories to enemy control without legal justification and disregard for the lives and safety of residents were urged by Prime Minister Pashinyan to lie down on the asphalt and take selfies.

Throughout the investigation, the defense repeatedly raised the issue of changing Sargsyan's detention measure, but his detention only changed after the case was sent to court. The court of general jurisdiction of Syunik Province, presided over by Judge Gnel Gasparyan, reviewed the defense’s motion to release Arthur Sargsyan on bail and granted it, setting the bail amount at 20 million drams.

The basis for the motion was the approaching statute of limitations and the fact that a case of this magnitude could not be resolved within three months. Therefore, in keeping with the precedent established by the Court of Cassation, Arthur Sargsyan was to be released.

“The courts were not responsive to our significant arguments one or two times. Finally, yesterday, the court took all these circumstances into account and applied bail,” noted the lawyer.

In addition, the completion of the preliminary investigation had significantly reduced the likelihood of obstructing the trial, thus, bail as a measure of restraint could suffice. After transferring the bail amount to the court’s deposit account, Arthur Sargsyan was released.

It should be recalled that following the snap parliamentary elections, the former mayor of Sisian was charged under the second part of Article 308 of the Armenian Criminal Code (abuse of official authority) and the first part of Article 314 (inserting false information or records into official documents, committing forgery, or creating or delivering false documents for selfish motives or other personal incentives). The heads and specialists of the financial and economic department of the Sisian municipality are also under suspicion, including Greta Tunyana, Nune Gasparyan, and Gor Manucharyan.

The criminal case is now under the jurisdiction of Judge Gnel Gasparyan at the General Jurisdiction Court of Syunik Province.