A Moscow court ruled to replace Russian-Armenian businessman-philanthropist Levon Hayrapetyan’s imprisonment was house arrest Friday, October 3, Russian media said.
As RIA Novosti reported on September 12, the Moscow court extended Levon Hayrapetyan’s arrest. The court made a decision despite his lawyers’ statement that Hayrapetyan suffers from several serious diseases and may not survive in prison conditions. A bail of 30 million rubles and guarantees of authoritative persons were offered.
It also became known at the court sitting in early September that a second criminal case was opened against Levon Hayrapetyan.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia arrested Hayrapetyan, one of the wealthiest representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in the world in mid-July.
The arrest took place as part of an ongoing investigation conducted by the Russian Investigatory Committee into the activities of one of the local criminal groups.
Hayrapetyan was detained by FSB workers at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow after he arrived in the Russian capital from Monaco.
The businessman was convoyed to the Investigatory Committee for questioning and it was there that he was officially notified about his arrest.
Hayrapetyan is reportedly suspected of connections to the criminal group led by Sergey Finagin, one of Russia’s notorious crime figures.
Russian law enforcers also imposed a lien on his shares of $900,000 in the oil company Bashneft. Hayrapetyan refuses to plead guilty in money laundering case in which he is allegedly involved.
A testimony by Igor Izmestev, a former senator now serving a life sentence, is said to have led to Hayrapetyan’s arrest.
Hayrapetyan is known to have invested millions of dollars into developing Nagorno Karabakh’s infrastructure and renovating the area’s historical-cultural monuments. His charity included a mass wedding for hundreds of Karabakh couples in 2008 and sponsorship of the construction of a military college in Martakert.
