Wife, lawyers of arrested opposition activist invited to U.S. Embassy

PanARMENIAN.Net - The wife and lawyers of opposition activist and politician Avetik Chalabyan, who is arrested on charges he has decried as politically motivated, have been invited to the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, Chalabyan's defense team reveals.

The situation surrounding the case involving Chalabyan and "illegalities" associated with it were discussed at the Embassy. No further details are available at this point.

Chalabyan was first detained in May after leaked audio fragments of a conversation between him and a student leader at Armenia’s National Agrarian University was leaked to pro-government news outlets.

Subsequently, he was charged with offering AMD 2 million drams (nearly $5,000) to said student leader in order to secure the presence of 2,000 students at anti-Government demonstrations demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Chalabyan says, however, that the recording has been manipulated and demands that the authorities release the full tape, which he says would prove his innocence.