Court denies travel ban request for Serzh Sargsyan

PanARMENIAN.Net - A court has rejected a motion to impose a travel ban on Armenia’s third president, Serzh Sargsyan, his lawyer Ruben Hakobyan told reporters. The court instead applied only a bail measure.

“I can’t go into too many details because the hearing was closed. The prosecution’s request for a travel ban was denied, and only bail was imposed,” Hakobyan said, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.

He noted that if there had been even minimal grounds for the request, the court would have granted it, but such evidence simply did not exist.

Following the hearing, Sargsyan responded to suggestions that he might try to flee the country.

“Do I seem like someone who would run away? Even if a court in Armenia sentences me to death, I will not leave this country. This is my country. It’s not theirs. Where would I flee from my own homeland? Based on their so-called ‘operational’ intelligence, I should’ve already disappeared long ago,” he emphasized.

The investigations involving Serzh Sargsyan are currently proceeding under two separate cases. The “diesel case” has been merged with another criminal probe involving Sedrak Kocharyan, the son of former president Robert Kocharyan, and businessman Mikayel Baghdasarov. A second case, which relates to alleged bribes from businesswoman Silva Hambardzumyan and land allocations on Isakov Avenue, has also been consolidated.