The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia presented the reason for the arrest of Avetik Chalabyan, noting that the latter traveled in May 2026 and met with the officials of another state, during which, through persuasion and interest in ensuring the victory of the political force preferred by them, he instigated them to use their official, governmental powers and the influence caused by them to obstruct the free electoral rights of RA citizens who have the right to vote in the parliamentary elections held in the Republic of Armenia on June 7, 2026. implementation.
As a result of the investigation and administrative actions taken in the framework of the criminal proceedings being investigated in the main department of the investigation of crimes against the state, the fundamentals of the constitutional order and public security of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, apparently factual data were obtained that A. Ch., being the coordinator of the “Hayakve” union, in order to prevent the free exercise of the electoral right of the persons entitled to vote in the parliamentary elections held on June 7, 2026 in the Republic of Armenia, left in May 2026 and had meetings with other with the officials of the state, in the course of which, through persuasion and interest in ensuring the victory of their preferred political force in the aforementioned elections, he induced the latter to form a group, with prior consent, using their official, governmental powers and the influence caused by them, to obstruct the free exercise of the electoral right of RA citizens who have the right to vote in the parliamentary elections held on June 7, 2026 in the Republic of Armenia, that is, through the owners of economic organizations operating in the given state to force RA citizens working in these organizations who have the right to vote to go to the Republic of Armenia and vote for the “Strong Armenia” bloc during the parliamentary elections held on June 7, 2026, in connection with which an agreement was reached.
According to the report, according to the conclusion of the expert appointed during the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings, it was confirmed that Avetik Chalabyan is the person conducting the conversation in the recording spread on the Internet.
According to the decision of the supervising prosecutor, a public criminal prosecution was initiated against Chalabyan, according to the 5th and 6th points of the 2nd part of Article 43-210 of the Criminal Code (preparation to obstruct the exercise of the right to vote by a group of persons using official or official powers or the influence caused by them).
A.Ch. was arrested, a petition was submitted to the court regarding the application of detention as a preventive measure against him. The preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings is ongoing.
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