Conviction for Attempted Election Bribery in Favor of the 'Honorable' Alliance

The Armavir regional prosecutor's office has established, during the investigation of a criminal case initiated on June 10 of this year under Article 34-154.2, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, that on June 20, 2021, during the snap elections for the National Assembly, the former mayor of Armavir, R. Khlghatyan, who was nominated under the 16th number of the candidate list of the 'Honorable' party alliance, reached a preliminary agreement with G. Petrosyan, a resident of the village of Janfida in Armavir region, to provide bribes in the form of money to at least 147 voters in exchange for their votes for the 'Honorable' alliance.

Subsequently, in accordance with the agreement, on June 10, 2021, around 16:30, R. Khlghatyan went to G. Petrosyan's house located in the village of Janfida to hand over the bribe of 9,000,000 Armenian drams and for Petrosyan to distribute this amount to the voters according to a previously prepared list.

However, at the moment of handing over the money, law enforcement officers of the RA police detained them, and the bribe money was discovered and seized during the search at the scene, in the yard of G. Petrosyan's house.

R. Khlghatyan and G. Petrosyan were charged under parts 1 and 2 of Article 34-154.2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia for the commission of the specified criminal acts. During the investigation, the defendants admitted their charges.

On June 13, 2021, a ruling by the Court of General Jurisdiction selected imprisonment as a preventive measure against them, which was later changed to bail by a decision of the prosecutor overseeing the criminal case.

On November 16, 2021, the criminal case was sent to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Armavir region with a conviction conclusion. Following a court hearing conducted under the procedure of agreement (Article 375.1 to 375.6 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia), on December 23, 2021, the court pronounced a guilty verdict, recognizing R. Khlghatyan and G. Petrosyan guilty of the charges against them; they were sentenced to four years of imprisonment.

Under Article 70 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, the sentence was not imposed conditionally, establishing a probation period of five years.

Within the framework of the agreement procedure, the sum of 9,000,000 Armenian drams, which was the subject of the bribery, was confiscated for the benefit of the Republic of Armenia.