Chalabyan to Remain in Custody, Lawyer Says

The public-political figure Avetik Chalabyan will continue to remain in custody. The Court of Appeal, presided over by judge Armen Danielyan, rejected the defense's appeal against the decision to select custody as a measure against Avetik Chalabyan, leaving the ruling of the first-instance court unchanged. This was reported by lawyer Varazdat Harutyunyan to Factinfo.

Recall that a criminal case has been initiated by the Investigative Committee of Armenia's Yerevan Investigation Department under Part 3, Clause 2 of Article 163 of the RA Criminal Code regarding the case of materially incentivizing the president of the student council of the National Agrarian University of Armenia in exchange for the participation of students in opposition gatherings. A recording concerning the alleged incident was published on May 9, 2022, on one of the news websites, titled '1,000 drams for each student, an Agrarian University lecturer incites the student council president to organize so that students participate in opposition gatherings, offering 1,000 drams for each student.'

According to the Investigative Committee, in exchange for participating in gatherings organized by the political opposition and performing certain actions, the president of the student council of the National Agrarian University of Armenia was materially incentivized, offering 2,000,000 AMD in exchange for involving two thousand students in the gatherings.