Arsen Babayan arrested in case on usurpation of power

A court pronounced a decision to arrest Arsen Babayan, the former deputy chief of the administration of the Armenian parliament, in a case on changing the chair of the Constitutional Court.

Arsen Babayan, the former deputy chief of the administration of the Armenian parliament, was detained on October 21. He is charged with official forgery and promoting usurpation of power.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed about the arrest of Arsen Babayan by advocate Lusine Saakyan. According to her, the defence requested the court to release Arsen Babayan on bail and left the amount of the bail at the court's discretion.

"There is no evidence that Arsen Babayan violated the law. On the contrary, there are statements of former speaker Ara Babloyan and Gagik Arutyunyan, the former chair of the Constitutional Court, who noted everything had been within the law. Given that the case is of political nature and the judicial system is under pressure, the defence has offered to release the defendant on bail so that the court could show its independence. However, that did not happen. Arsen Babayan was left in custody," Lusine Saakyan reported.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 24, 2019 at 05:09 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.