Ara Nakhshkaryan

A leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and noted public figure Ara Nakhshakaryan was arrested on Wednesday when National Security Service forces entered his home in the morning and dragged him to a detention center.

The news of the arrest was announced by Nakhshakaryan’s attorney Abrasim Atoyan.

The attorney said that his client was being held at the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia.

“They took him from his apartment around 9 this morning. He was arrested based on the voice recording realead by the Anti-Corruption Committee,” Atoyan told the News.am agency.

Nakhshkaryan is the director of the Gyumri office of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society and was also ran for a parliament seat in the June 7 election, representing the opposition Armenia Alliance.

“We confirm that A. N., a parliamentary candidate from the ‘Hayastan’ Alliance electoral list, was arrested today as part of a criminal investigation launched by the Anti-Corruption Committee into alleged cases of offering and receiving electoral bribes,” the Anti-Corruption Committee said in a statement.

The Anti-Corruption Committee claims to have uncovered a new electoral bribery scheme and release a voice recording in which one of individuals is addressed as Nakhshkaryan.

“Factual data has been obtained during the criminal proceedings initiated by the Anti-Corruption Committee that the parliamentary candidate from the Armenia Alliance, taking advantage of legal provisions to nominate members of the precinct electoral commission, used the institutional guarantees aimed at ensuring trust in democratic processes for his own political interests,” the committee alleged in its statement.

The Anti-Corruption Committee claimed that Nakhshkaryan allegedly gave preference to those who agreed to be included in the committee and receive compensation in return for ensuring the voting of both themselves and a specific number of people involved by them.

—