VIDEO: The Prosecutor's Office Statement Indicates Ashot Minasyan is a Victim of Political Persecution, Vardevanyan

In an interview with reporters, Aram Vardevanyan, a member of the “Armenia” faction in the National Assembly, addressed the Prosecutor's Office's comments regarding the measure of restraint for Ashot Minasyan, the commander of the “Sisakan” unit.

“Ashot Minasyan is, in the classical sense, a victim of political persecution as a result of this announcement. It turns out that there are individuals charged under the same article, who are not even detained, yet Ashot Minasyan is detained,” said Aram Vardevanyan.

It should be noted that the Prosecutor General's Office responded to the public inquiry from Deputy Aram Vardevanyan concerning Ashot Minasyan's detention.

“Considering that Mr. Vardevanyan frequently calls for respect for the positions expressed in judicial acts, we propose that, following that call, he respect the judicial acts issued concerning Ashot Minasyan and refrain from making unfounded evaluations of the accusations. Moreover, although the severity of the accusations is not a determining factor for the measure of restraint, since Mr. Vardevanyan emphasized in his inquiry whether other individuals had been detained under the same charges, we inform you that, for instance, in ten cases investigated by the same preliminary investigation body during the years 2017-2021, nine individuals were detained under Article 235, part 1 of the RA Criminal Code.

Additionally, across the Republic, in 13 cases examined and concluded in 2021 on similar charges, eight individuals were detained. Furthermore, over the years, individuals having grounds for detention have remained in custody, and subsequently convicted for possessing illegal firearms or automatic weapons.

In any case, none of the detainees under the same charges had unlawfully possessed firearms and ammunition as alleged against Ashot Minasyan, including three PK type machine guns of 7.62 mm caliber, one RPK-74 type machine gun of 5.45 mm caliber, two optical devices for anti-tank grenade launchers, three automatic rifles, 14 rifles with optical devices, nine boxes each containing 2160 rounds of 5.45 mm caliber cartridges, five boxes of 7.62 mm caliber cartridges, 233 rounds of 7.62 caliber ammunition, and TNT.

Taking into account that Mr. Vardevanyan participated as a lawyer in the proceedings concerning Ashot Minasyan and is familiar with the charges brought against him, we do not find it necessary to continue listing the types of illegally held ammunition discovered in buildings belonging to Minasyan,” responded the Prosecutor's Office.

Aram Vardevanyan stated that, in his opinion, it is only a matter of days before Ashot Minasyan is released.