RFE/RL – Armenian Opposition Leader’s Home Searched In ‘Post-Election’ Probe

Saghatelian heads the Yerevan-based governing body of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) party, a key component of the opposition Hayastan alliance. The bloc led by former President Robert Kocharian finished third in the June 7 elections, according to their official results rejected as fraudulent by the Armenian opposition.

The Investigative Committee said its officers raided Saghatelian’s home and confiscated cash and jewelry kept there early in the morning because of his failure to comply with a court’s decision to freeze his properties and other assets worth over 258 million drams ($700,000). In particular, it said, he defied orders by Armenia’s Service for the Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEHA) emanating from that injunction. The committee did not formally charge him with any crimes as of Tuesday evening.

Saghatelian denied breaking any laws. He argued that he recently challenged the SMEJA’s “illegal” demands in another court.

“All this is ridiculous,” he told journalists. “We are ready for any scenario. They can’t achieve anything with such methods.”

Saghatelian claimed that the criminal case is part of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s efforts to tighten his grip on power in the face of vote-rigging allegations made by Hayastan and other major opposition groups.

“[Pashinian] didn’t win the backing of a majority of our people [in the elections,]” said the Dashnaktsutyun leader. “In order to shore up his illegal and illegitimate power, he is resorting to illegal actions against opposition figures and forces.”

Pashinian pledged last week to “crush” Kocharian and businessmen Samvel Karapetian and Gagik Tsarukian leading the two other principal election challengers of ruling Civil Contract party. Law-enforcement authorities brought new corruption charges against Kocharian the next day. They charged Tsarukian with tax evasion a few days earlier.

For his part, Karapetian went on trial in April on separate charges also rejected by him as politically motivated. The Russian-Armenian tycoon is currently negotiating with Hayastan, Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party and other opposition groups over his proposal to set up a “post-election opposition coalition” that would fight for regime change in the country.

Prosecutors moved to confiscate Saghatelian’s assets last year, invoking a controversial law that allows the state to seize money, property and companies deemed to have been acquired illegally. The court froze them in January pending a ruling on the case.

Saghatelian, 44, said that the asset forfeiture proceedings are also politically motivated. He argued that he held a government position for only several months in 2018 and could not have used it to enrich himself and his family. The opposition leader’s father has reportedly engaged in entrepreneurial activities for many years.

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