Category: News

Ahead of the international multi-day cycling tournament Tour of Armenia to be held in September of this year, under the auspices of the RA Prime Minister, the amateur cycling campaign “Around Sevan” will be held on August 29-30, contributing to the development of the cycling tradition and healthy lifestyle culture in Armenia.

This is reported by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Conditions for participating in the cycling race:

♦ the participant must have the ability to cycle at least 25 km non-stop,
♦ the participant must have a doctor’s permission or a health certificate that does not contain contraindications for participation in the bicycle race,
♦ the participant must be willing to participate in preparatory training in August.

Cyclists participate in the cycle race on their own bicycles, with only mechanical bicycles permitted.

The cycling campaign will be concluded with the final event, during which all participants will receive certificates. There is no prize fund.

To participate in the bike ride, you need to send the following information to the email address [email protected]:

♦ participant’s name, patronymic, surname, address, phone number (region, community, place of residence),
♦ photocopy of passport or identification card,
♦ Photocopy of doctor’s clearance or health certificate.

Applications are accepted until July 30.

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The anti-corruption court accepted the lawsuit of the General Prosecutor’s Office against “Beghlu” CJSC, State Property Management Committee, Gagik Tsarukyan, “Multi Group” Concern LLC, “Sevan National Park” SNOC (hereinafter – SNOC) to declare the contract N 111-2 of November 29, 1996 invalid.

This was reported by the General Prosecutor’s Office.

As a result, the Attorney General’s Office requests the annulment of:

♦ State registration of the right to land with an area of ​​1.21 ha and wooden house N 7 with an area of ​​60 square meters based on the contract,
♦ The real estate sale agreement signed between “Beghlu” CJSC and Gagik Tsarukyan on September 8, 2000,
♦ the January 12, 2001 agreement on amending the above-mentioned agreement,
♦ The lease agreement signed between SNOC and “Multi Group” concern LLC under the registry number N 4462 on November 25, 2025 and the state registration of the right made on November 28, 2025.

As a result, to return the land with an area of ​​0.29114 ha from the illegal possession of the “Multi Group” concern LLC to the ownership of the RA, the buildings and structures built on the land, namely: residential houses with an area of ​​425.12 square meters, the boat station with an area of ​​23.04 square meters, a fence with an area of ​​100.8 square meters.

The anti-corruption court has satisfied the request of the Prosecutor’s Office to apply a measure of securing the claim. the defendant is forbidden to perform such actions that will lead to the change of the owner of the properties mentioned in the statement of claim or to the change of their actual condition.

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The Department of Investigation and Operational Intelligence of the RA State Revenue Committee received information that the company operating a gas station at 1 Yerevan-Sevan highway 1 of Verin Ptghni community, Kotayk marz, and 10/2 Gyurjian city of Yerevan, without proper documentation, acquires fuel and sells it to consumers without providing receipts for the control cash register and reflecting these transactions in the tax records.

“The investigation and operational intelligence department of the committee has developed, undertaken and implemented complex operational-investigative measures within the framework of the functions assigned to it in the work carried out in the direction of prevention and detection of tax offenses.

Thus, the addresses of the company’s activities, the number of fuel distribution towers, the locations of the fuel storage containers, as well as the addresses of the office premises were determined in advance, and at the same time, an external observation operative-intelligence event was carried out.

According to the results of complex analyzes and studies of the data obtained in the framework of the operative-investigative measures, it was found that the company purchased and sold various types of liquid fuels worth around 1.6 billion drams without proper documents in 2023-2026. To this end, a significant part of the actual turnover of the gas station was not documented, in particular, the values ​​of the gasoline sold were not entered into the control cash registers and the cash register receipts were not printed. As a result of all this, distorted data was entered in the calculations submitted to the tax authority. As a result, the state suffered a particularly large loss of around 500 million drams.

A report on the incident was submitted to the RA Investigative Committee’s Economic Crimes and Smuggling Main Department, where criminal proceedings were initiated.

The investigation and operational-intelligence department of the RA SRC continues to take necessary measures not only in the direction of revealing committed crimes, but also in preventing them, and at the same time urges business entities to declare the actual sales turnovers,” the message says.

Notice:. the person accused of a crime is considered innocent until his guilt is proven in accordance with the procedure established by the RA Criminal Procedure Code by a legally binding court verdict.

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Within the framework of the construction project of the north-south Kajaran-Agarak 32 km road section, the bridge bicycle mounting works are carried out using a hanging bicycle installation facility (Launching Gantry).

This is reported by the Road Department.

“This method is used in Armenia for the first time, ensuring high accuracy and safety of construction works.

It should be noted that the construction of the Kajaran-Agarak road section is proceeding at a high pace. A 32 km long road of II technical grade is being built.

As a result, the current average traffic speed of 50 km/h will increase to 80 km/h, the travel time will be reduced by 35-40 minutes. The project also includes the construction of 5 new transport hubs, 6 new overpasses, 2 new tunnels with a total length of about 920 meters and 15 new bridges.

After construction, the road will meet advanced international standards.

The project is implemented with the co-financing of the Eurasian Stabilization and Development Fund and the RA Government.

The investment program of the North-South road corridor is implemented by the “Road Department” fund,” the message says.

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“We wanted to establish a joint Armenian-Iranian trade center, in the work of which both Iranians and Gagik Tsarukyan were involved. I regret to mention that the parties had some economic disagreements, we tried to do everything to reach an agreement as a result of consensus and concessions.

We would never want any black spot to remain in the context of relations, it is undesirable for us that the unsuccessful experience of business activities between the citizens of two countries was presented in public opinion in such a way that the citizens of Armenia and Iran could not work with each other and now they have differences”, the Iranian ambassador to Armenia stated today, responding to the question regarding the case of Gagik Tsarukyan during the press conference.

In that case, there is also talk about the Armenian-Iranian trade center project and the processes related to it. According to the official version, there were frauds, embezzlement, money laundering, etc., for which Tsarukyan is accused. Tsarukyan considers these accusations fictitious.

However, the reaction of the Iranian ambassador is, at least apparently, quite ambiguous, very ambiguous. And in this context, I certainly draw attention to the fact that the actions against Gagik Tsarukyan were actually carried out after Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Iran for Ali Khamenei’s funeral.

I had occasion to draw attention to the fact that the actions against Tsarukyan were accompanied by a visit to Yekaterinburg. But, the statement of the Iranian ambassador, I repeat, the statement with a rather multifaceted tone forces us to “look” to the south, to Pashinyan’s visit to Iran and, in fact, the drastic actions that followed it in Arinj. Have they expressed any “expectations” in that direction?

Analyst Hakob Badalyan

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Each country decided on what level to participate in the farewell ceremony of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei. Khalil Shirgholami, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Iran to Armenia, announced this at a press conference on July 8.

“As a citizen of Iran, I can say that we expected the personal participation of Aliyev and Erdogan in this event. Turkey and Azerbaijan sent their delegations, however, this fact will be recorded in historical memory,” the diplomat noted, repeating that this is the internal political decision of those countries.

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The prosecutor’s office of Tavush region, as a result of the study carried out within the framework of the authority to initiate a lawsuit for the protection of state (community) interests, filed a claim with the Anti-Corruption Court on June 22, 2026 against the “Ara and Aitsemnik” BB company owned by Manvel Grigoryan’s family, located at 27 Maksim Gorku Street, Dilijan city, Tavush region, with an estimated market value of 189 million 903 thousand drams. with a request to declare the auction of real estate with cadastral value invalid and to apply the consequences of invalidity. This was reported by the General Prosecutor’s Office.

On July 1, 2026, the anti-corruption court accepted the claim for proceedings and applied a means of securing the claim, prohibiting “Ara and Atsemnik” BB company from alienating and pledging the above-mentioned real estate in any way.

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HRD employees visited PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan, after which HRD issued a statement. The statement says: “As a result of the monitoring of mass media in the staff of the human rights defender, information was recorded that on July 6, 2026, the chairman of the “Prosperous Armenia” party, Gagik Tsarukyan, was arrested.

Later, the information was published that the arrest restraining measure was applied to the latter by the decision of the court.

On the same day, the Hotline of the Defender’s Office received calls that searches were being conducted in the private house of Gagik Tsarukyan and other areas belonging to him, but the lawyers who appeared at the scene of the operation were not allowed to enter and participate in the operation. As a result of the rapid response of the HRD institution, a number of raised issues were resolved. The study of the issue regarding other alarms continues in the staff of the Defender.

Later, a video related to the case was circulated with footage of the actual deprivation of the person’s freedom, and concerns were raised that disproportionate physical force was applied to the person in the event that, according to those concerns, the latter did not initially show any resistance, and the handcuffs used were smaller than the size of the person’s wrists.

On July 8, 2026, on the instructions of Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan, representatives of HRD visited the “Yerevan-Kentron” penal institution of RA Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to visit Gagik Tsarukyan and learn about the state of ensuring his rights. During the visit, a private conversation was held with the latter, the relevant documents, health condition, detention conditions and other issues related to the provision of rights were studied. The content of the interview is confidential and not subject to publication.

The human rights defender emphasizes that law enforcement agencies have a key role in the detection of violations and the fight against crime. The state must take all necessary and legal measures to prevent, detect, and properly investigate violations of law. The realization of those goals also implies the use of various tools, including the imprisonment of persons, the use of physical force, and the implementation of appropriate actions defined by law. At the same time, it is crucial that law enforcement and other competent authorities carry out their functions in strict compliance with relevant human rights standards.

The human rights defender emphasizes that the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly recorded that the use of physical force and special measures must comply with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality in each case, and the legality of their use is subject to assessment based on the specific factual circumstances of each case.

The legality of handcuffing or the use of physical force cannot be determined solely by the fact that the person is under arrest, but must be based on specific factual circumstances that may indicate, for example, resistance, escape, self-harm or a real threat to the safety of other persons. If it is deemed necessary to handcuff a person, it should never be too tight and should only be used for as long as is absolutely necessary.

Taking into account that the shared video raises questions about the use of handcuffs and physical force in terms of compliance with legal standards, the Human Rights Defender has launched an investigation into the issue. According to the RA Constitutional Law “On the Defender of Human Rights”, when studying or discussing the complaint, as well as when conducting a discussion on his own initiative, the Defender is OBLIGED to give the opportunity to the state or local self-government body, organization or their official or representative, whose decision or action (inaction) is being appealed, to provide clarifications regarding the complaint and the results of the conducted studies, as well as justify his position.

After receiving relevant clarifications and other necessary information regarding the necessity, grounds and other circumstances of the use of physical force and handcuffs from the competent state bodies, the Human Rights Defender will summarize the results of the study.

At the same time, the Human Rights Defender emphasizes that there are systemic problems in Armenia regarding the legality of the use of physical force and special measures, which the Defender has addressed many times, both in annual reports and in special reports. In this regard, the Defender emphasizes the implementation of systemic reforms and the improvement of sector practice.

Other results of the study and the visit to the penitentiary institution are summarized in the HRD staff, appropriate measures will be taken within the scope of the mandate of the Defender.

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Today, on July 8, a meeting of the members of the alliance was held under the leadership of the leader of the “Armenia” bloc, Robert Kocharyan.

The alliance informs that the post-election situation and further actions were discussed.

Let us remind that according to the results of parliamentary elections held on June 7, the “Armenia” bloc will have 12 mandates in the new parliament. The alliance has already announced that it will take the mandates.

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The Central Electoral Commission of Armenia returned to the General Prosecutor’s Office the petition to deprive the representative of the “Strong Armenia” party, Narek Karapetyan, of his parliamentary immunity, in order to initiate a criminal case against him.

As reported by the CEC, earlier the General Prosecutor’s Office sent a corresponding application to the commission, but it was not examined within the specified period due to the workload.

The commission explained that the powers of the CEC to examine such issues have already ceased. Those powers were in effect until July 4, the day of submission of the final results of the elections, and in case of appeal to the Constitutional Court, until the moment of publication of the decision of the Supreme Court.

“Giving consent to initiating criminal prosecution or depriving him of liberty against a person who does not have the status of a deputy candidate is beyond the jurisdiction of the Central Electoral Commission,” stated the CEC.

The General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia has not yet commented on the commission’s decision.

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