Preventive Measures Applied to 5 Defendants with Administrative Supervision, 3 with Prohibition of Absence

The Anti-Corruption Committee reports that eight individuals were arrested yesterday as part of ongoing criminal investigations into alleged bribery and violations related to charitable activities during elections. The arrests were made based on the basis of presenting the defendants to the court.

According to the Anti-Corruption Committee’s statement, voters were offered bribes in exchange for voting for a political party during the extraordinary elections to the Gyumri City Council. Information has also been received indicating that a member of the political party running in the same municipality, along with an authorized representative, provided firewood disguised as charity to voters, promised money for street paving works, and made offers for the acquisition of clothing and other goods.

“On the same day, preventive measures were applied to two of them, prohibiting absence, while the other six were presented to the Anti-Corruption Court in accordance with the law with requests to apply administrative supervision as a preventive measure. Out of the requests submitted, five were fully satisfied by the court, and administrative supervision measures were applied to the defendants. They were released in accordance with the law, and their documents were sent to the probation service of the Ministry of Justice.

The court also set additional restrictions based on the investigator’s requests, prohibiting the defendants from changing their residence without the permission of the prosecuting authority, leaving their residence during nighttime hours, and communicating with certain individuals (as presented by the investigative body). In this way, the prosecuting authority, guided by public interest and aiming to ensure the objectivity and impartiality of the criminal proceedings, opted for preventive measures that would, among other things, maximally ensure the free exercise of electoral rights by the participants in the proceedings.

Based on the above, the Anti-Corruption Committee urges participants in the proceedings to strictly adhere to the limitations and conditions of the selected preventive measures, displaying law-abiding behavior,” the statement indicates.

Recall that since the morning of March 27, law enforcement agencies have been conducting investigative actions in the offices of the opposition parties participating in the extraordinary elections in Gyumri, namely the “Mother Armenia” and “Our City” alliances.