Tsarukian was prosecuted after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s repeated pledges to jail him and the top leaders of two other, bigger opposition groups that challenged the ruling Civil Contract party in the June 7 elections. He is facing fraud charges stemming from a financial dispute with two Iranian business partners who set up two years ago a joint venture with his Multi Group that never operated as planned.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee has backed their allegations that Tsarukian misappropriated $22 million worth of fuel, transport equipment and other goods supplied by them from 2022-2024. The Iranians stood by their claims during a face-to-face interrogation with him last week. Tsarukian’s lawyers insist he himself was defrauded by them.

“It is unacceptable for us that the centuries-old friendly Armenian-Iranian relations are at risk because of two citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran whom I can confidently call fraudsters,” Tsarukian’s spokeswoman, Iveta Tonoyan, said during the protest.

Tonoyan called on the Iranian mission and Ambassador Khalil Shirgholami in particular to “use all possible legal and diplomatic tools to stop the completely illegal prosecution” of the tycoon leading the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).

Shirgholami signaled concerns over Tsarukian’s arrest during a July 8 news conference in Yerevan. He warned of a risk of dangerous “division” within Armenia and expressed hope for a compromise settlement of the BHK leader’s dispute with the Iranian entrepreneurs.

Tsarukian was demonstratively taken into custody on July 6 just as investigators sealed off the offices of dozens of Multi Group companies employing thousands of people. Virtually all of those companies, including Armenia’s second largest brandy distillery, have remained effectively closed since then.

The chief of executive of the Yerevan-based Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory was arrested late last week on tax evasion charges also levelled against Tsarukian. The tycoon’s lawyers brushed aside the accusation, saying that he has not been involved in this and other Multi Group companies’ day-to-day operations since 2003.

Tsarukian was already charged with “large-scale” tax evasion and barred from leaving Armenia two days after the elections in which his party was one of the main opposition contenders. The Investigative Committee dropped that accusation earlier this month.

In another statement issued from prison on Monday, Tsarukian refrained from calling for regime change in the country. He instead accused the authorities of “deliberately damaging” his businesses and expressed sympathy for his employees remaining out of work.

“I am confident that justice will be restored and you will all return to your regular work,” he said.

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