Former Deputy Minister of Education Released on Bail

The former Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Gevorg Loretsyan, will be released on bail. According to reports from Armenpress, his lawyer Levon Sahakyan announced that Judge Sergey Marabyan of the Court of Appeals overturned the decision of the first instance court and granted bail for Loretsyan.

Gevorg Loretsyan has been in custody since December 2019.

He is accused of demanding a particularly large bribe of 2 million AMD from Hrachik Kananian, the owner and executive director of the commercial organizations "Laur" and "Elite Sport." The bribe was allegedly demanded in exchange for the general patronage, allowing Kananian's commercial organizations to participate in the procurement processes organized by the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and to facilitate the acceptance of goods without hindrances if they won the contracts, as well as to keep them free from potential issues. There are three defendants in this case.