Ara Vardanyan to Remain in Custody

The former director of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, Ara Vardanyan, will continue to remain in custody.

“Today, the judge of the Court of Appeal, Mntikhan Harutyunyan, did not find enough strength (as many of my friends hinted at) to satisfy our appeal and release Ara Vardanyan, the former director of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund,” wrote Ara Vardanyan's lawyer, Yervand Varosyan, on his Facebook page.

Ara Vardanyan will continue to be held in detention under conditions where there is no legal basis for it, having been in the status of the accused for one year and three months without violating any conditions of bail imposed on him. This indicates that there is special attention from the authorities towards Ara Vardanyan and the fund. In other circumstances, such decisions would simply be excluded.

This, in turn, means that Ara Vardanyan is being pursued and is effectively being punished for his political and social activities alone. Freedom for all political prisoners; any political process conducted under the guise of criminal prosecution is unconstitutional,” Varosyan added.