Seven People Arrested Including Mika Badalyan and Ashot Gevorgyan

Seven individuals have been arrested in the Syunik province on September 6 and 7, including Mika Badalyan and Ashot Gevorgyan, as reported by the spokesman for the Investigative Committee, Gor Abrahamyan.

According to him, “Based on the characteristics of part 2 of Article 335 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, a criminal case initiated by the SSP has been transferred to the Investigative Committee. Based on reasonable suspicion about the commission of a crime, seven individuals have been arrested in the Syunik province on September 6 and 7, including Mika Badalyan and Ashot Gevorgyan. An investigative group has been formed. Currently, investigative and procedural actions are ongoing. The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia will release a statement regarding the circumstances of the case later.”

It was previously reported that the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Evgeny Primakov, stated that blogger Mika Badalyan has disappeared near the Armenian town of Goris, close to the border with Azerbaijan.

“I just learned from good friends in Yerevan that the pro-Russian blogger and activist Mika Badalyan was abducted by unidentified masked individuals near one of the hotels in Goris on the evening of September 6, around 21:00. A local resident, who is a priest of the Armenian Church, witnessed the abduction,” Primakov wrote on his Telegram channel.

The Mash Telegram channel reports that the Russian Foreign Ministry is verifying information about the blogger's disappearance, while the ministry's official representative Maria Zakharova has called the situation a provocation.