Gagik Tsarukyan, the chairman of the “Prosperous Armenia” party, was returned to solitary confinement after being transferred to the Investigative Committee once again. Today’s planned investigative actions, including the confrontation, have not been completed.
According to Tsarukyan’s defense attorney Emin Khachatryan, the defense submitted a motion to challenge the entire investigation team. According to his assessment, in the created conditions, when, according to him, the principle of competition is absent and illegalities are allowed, it was not possible to continue the investigative actions.
This morning, Gagik Tsarukyan, who was detained after the elections, was taken to the Investigative Committee again accompanied by the police. The previous day, he had already confronted one of the Iranian businessmen accusing him, and today he was expected to face the second businessman.
However, Tsarukyan’s other lawyer, Yerem Sargsyan, was removed from the proceedings during the investigation. According to him, the basis of such a decision was the application of one of the Iranian businessmen recognized as a victim.
The latter stated that Yerem Sargsyan had previously participated in the meetings between him and Gagik Tsarukyan, therefore he should be interrogated as a witness and not involved as a defense attorney. Yerem Sargsyan evaluated that decision of the law enforcement officers as illegal, informing that he had already received a summons to be questioned as a witness on the same day.
Gagik Tsarukyan was charged with particularly large fraud and money laundering articles. According to law enforcement officers, he organized the theft of property worth more than 21 million dollars belonging to Iranian businessmen. However, the defense side claims the opposite, stating that it was the Iranian businessmen who had financial obligations towards Tsarukyan, which, according to them, is confirmed by the relevant contracts.
It should be noted that yesterday, a few hours before the interrogation, Tsarukyan’s message from the isolation cell was published. This time, he did not address the criticisms of the authorities, but presented the results of his activities and announced that he intends to “continue building”.
At the same time, dozens of enterprises related to Tsarukyan remain closed, and the management of the “Araratcement” factory has already been transferred to the state.
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