Armen Charchyan Will Be Released Within Hours: Vardevanyan

Armen Charchyan, Arthur Sargsyan, and Mkhitar Zakaryan's release has reached a consensus. The Constitutional Court has confirmed this unequivocally. This was stated by Aram Vardevanyan, a member of the 'Armenia' faction and a human rights defender, during a conversation with reporters. This was reported by Tert.am.

“I want to emphasize that the Constitutional Court has not innovated; it has merely reiterated Article 96 of the Constitution, which everyone was aware of, and which law enforcement agencies were supposed to know as well. This article clearly states that a member of parliament cannot be deprived of liberty without the agreement of the National Assembly. I have literally repeated this sentence several times on August 2, 2021, and it was ignored to keep our colleagues illegally imprisoned for this long,” Vardevanyan said.

Vardevanyan assured that Armen Charchyan would be free within hours. “There is no second opinion here; the Constitutional Court's decision is mandatory for everyone, and there is absolutely no room for maneuvering. I feel bad that our judges and prosecutors have found themselves in such a situation; we had warned about this from the very beginning,” he added.

Vardevanyan indicated that a court decision is not necessary for Armen Charchyan's release since the Constitutional Court's ruling is also binding for the penitentiary service. “All those judges who have made these disgraceful judicial acts and kept parliament members imprisoned will be held accountable, as all legally established measures will be taken against them, because there should not be judges in the Republic of Armenia who do not master the basic rules of the Constitution. We have a problem with professionalism here.”

Vardevanyan emphasized that the Constitutional Court's ruling indicates that these actions were illegal, hence everything will be done to ensure those actions have consequences. “It turns out that if the 'Armenia' bloc had not appealed to the Constitutional Court on this issue, our friends would have been held illegally for months, and this simple constitutional rule would have remained violated.”

When asked if he considers it possible that political persecution against the imprisoned parliament members will continue, Vardevanyan replied, “After illegally detaining them for five months, what appetite could they have for further violations of rights? What more could they do? Armen Charchyan has not only been illegally imprisoned for five months, but his health has also deteriorated. We all understand that this is tyranny, and we will fight against it every day.”