Narek Mantashyan, Armenian oppositionist, released on bail

The court has mitigated the freedom restraint measure of Narek Mantashyan, a member of the "Armenia" bloc, accused of organizing riots in Yerevan after the tripartite agreement was signed on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, and released him on bail.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in December 2021, a Yerevan court sent Narek Mantashyan, who is also the leader of the NGO "Alternative", under arrest for two months within the case of organizing riots in Yerevan in 2020.

Now, the Yerevan court has granted the defence's motion and released Narek Mantashyan on bail in the amount of 20 million drams, his advocate, Alexander Kochubaev, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on July 20.

Relatives and friends of Mantashyan have already raised 15 million drams; and now the problem of the remaining five million is being resolved. After placing the entire amount of bail on the bank deposit, Mantashyan will be released from custody. "20 million drams is a rather high amount, given the absence of my client's earlier criminal record. Nevertheless, we should account that the court has demonstrated courage and decided to change the freedom restriction measure in the case with obvious political overtones," the advocate has emphasized.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 20, 2022 at 09:21 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.