David Ghazinyan detained for two months

PanARMENIAN.Net - David Ghazinyan, a parliamentary candidate from the Strong Armenia alliance of parties, has been placed in pretrial detention for two months. The Anti-Corruption Court granted the motion submitted by the Anti-Corruption Committee. The information was reported by his lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan, according to Sputnik Armenia.

“The court hearing continued throughout the night and ended at 7:10 a.m. The ruling was supposed to be announced at 9:00 a.m., but with a slight delay the detention decision was issued, even though no substantiated arguments were presented during the entire hearing,” Vardevanyan said.

Aram Vardevanyan described the court’s decision as unlawful.

Earlier, Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission approved two motions submitted by the Prosecutor’s Office, granting consent to initiate criminal proceedings against Ghazinyan and to deprive him of liberty. He was detained on June 17. Speaking to journalists outside the CEC, lawyer Aram Vardevanyan stated that the case concerns the preparation of election bribery.

The authorities accuse three leading opposition forces — Strong Armenia, the Hayastan Alliance, and the Prosperous Armenia Party — of distributing election bribes. Several dozen criminal proceedings have been launched, and there have been arrests and detentions. At the same time, the opposition has accused the authorities of unprecedented use of administrative resources. It should also be noted that the OSCE observation mission recorded the use of administrative resources, pressure on public-sector employees, and criminal prosecutions targeting opposition figures.