Court rejects bid to jail Arush Arushanyan

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal has ruled that the sentence imposed on Goris Mayor Arush Arushanyan will not be replaced with imprisonment, dismissing the prosecution's appeal and leaving in force the lower court's decision.

Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Court, presided over by Judge Tigran Davtyan, rejected a motion by the Probation Service seeking to replace Arushanyan's sentence with imprisonment. Armenia's Prosecutor General's Office appealed that ruling to the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal, according to Pastinfo.

The issue of changing Arushanyan's sentence has been under judicial review for more than two years.

On March 28, 2022, the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction, presided over by Judge Gnel Gasparyan, acquitted Arushanyan on an election-related charge but found him guilty on another count, sentencing him to one year and six months in prison. Taking into account the eight months he had already spent in detention, the court set the final prison term at six months, but suspended its execution. Arushanyan was also placed on 18 months' probation, fined, and barred from holding the office of local self-government head for five years. The judgment later entered into legal force after the appeal process.

The Probation Service subsequently asked the Goris Council of Elders to terminate Arushanyan's powers, but the council rejected the request, stating that the issue fell outside its authority. The Syunik Regional Office of the Ministry of Justice's Probation Service then drew up a report alleging evasion of punishment and petitioned the court to replace the five-year ban on holding the office of local self-government head with imprisonment, as well as to revoke the suspension of the prison sentence.

At the same time, Arushanyan challenged the legality of the Probation Service's actions, but the court dismissed his complaint. His subsequent appeal against that ruling was also examined under a written procedure and rejected.

Regarding the Probation Service's petition, on September 10, 2024, the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction, presided over by Judge Varsenik Melkonyan, partially granted the request by replacing the five-year ban on holding the office of local self-government head with one year, eight months, and three days of imprisonment.

Both the prosecution and Arushanyan's defense appealed that decision. The Criminal Court of Appeal, chaired by Judge Mnatsakan Harutyunyan, partially upheld both appeals, setting the final sentence at one year and 11 months of imprisonment, while leaving the remainder of the lower court's ruling unchanged.

Following cassation appeals against that decision, it became known in March 2025 that the Court of Cassation had accepted the complaints for review. A year later, the court ruled that the case had been heard by the wrong court, finding that it should have been examined by the Anti-Corruption Court. The case was therefore remanded to that court for a new hearing.

After reconsideration, the Anti-Corruption Court rejected the Probation Service's motion. The Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal has now also dismissed the prosecution's appeal, leaving the first-instance ruling unchanged.