Four Individuals Detained in Case Involving Prosecutor Accused of Bribery Related to Catholicos' Nephew

The Supreme Judicial Council is not providing any comments regarding the case of Koryun Nersisyan, the deputy prosecutor of the Shengavit administrative district. This was stated by Lilit Shaboyan, head of the Press and Public Relations Department of the SJC, to 24News.

It is noted that two judges from the Armavir region are involved in this criminal case: Edgar Hovhannisyan, the chairman of the first instance general jurisdiction court, and Arthur Adamyan. The deputy prosecutor, who is the nephew of Catholicos Garegin II, is accused of abusing his official position to impose lenient sentencing on the accused and receiving a bribe (2.5 million drams).

There are reports that the deputy prosecutor mediated with judges Hovhannisyan and Adamyan regarding the application of lenient sentencing. The spokesperson for the SJC stated that due to the confidentiality of the pre-investigation process, the SJC is not authorized to provide any comments. Shaboyan did not specify whether the SJC has allowed criminal prosecution against the judges or conducted investigative actions related to them.

24News also attempted to reach out to Alexander Azaryan, president of the Union of Judges, for a comment but was unsuccessful.

Marina Ohanyan, spokesperson for the Anti-Corruption Committee, informed 24News that the court has granted the investigator's request to detain Prosecutor Koryun Nersisyan and three other individuals involved in this case: "The individuals detained include the bribe giver, the bribe receiver, and those who assisted in providing the bribe." There are no judges among the accused. "The pre-investigation is ongoing," noted Ohanyan.

According to the press statement issued by the Anti-Corruption Committee, Koryun Nersisyan, in agreement with G.G. and N.A., met on January 16, 2022, in the village of Voskhehat in the Armavir region with the accused N.D. to discuss the circumstances of the criminal case against him. "During the meeting, K.N. promised to use his official position to assist in imposing a sentence on N.D. that would allow him to be exempted from punishment based on the amnesty law, for which he demanded a bribe of 2,500,000 AMD from the accused. On May 17, 2022, N.D. was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment by the first instance general jurisdiction court of Armavir Region, under conditions that allowed for him to be exempted from punishment according to the amnesty law adopted on November 1, 2018.

On May 19, 2022, K.N. met with G.G. and received 2,000,000 AMD of the demanded bribe amount from N.D., while the remaining 460,000 AMD was transferred to G.G.'s close associate's bank account on May 31, 2022, with N.D.'s assistance, who then cashed the money the same day and transferred it to the official.