Defenders Appeal Decision to Detain Gevorg Kostanyan

The decision of the first instance court to detain former MP of the RA National Assembly and former Attorney General Gevorg Kostanyan has been appealed. This was announced by one of Kostanyan's defenders, Gevorg Gevorgyan, in response to a question from Armenian Times.

It is recalled that on December 12, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, under the chairmanship of Judge Marine Melkonyan, accepted the motion from the Special Investigative Service and issued a ruling to detain Gevorg Kostanyan.

On November 24, Kostanyan was involved as a defendant in the March 1 case. The SIS had offered him 48 hours to appear before the prosecuting authority and to face charges. After the 48 hours elapsed, the SIS declared him wanted and submitted a motion to the court for detention as a precautionary measure.

According to media reports, the former Republican MP has been implicated as a defendant under several articles of the RA Criminal Code for abuse of official position, inciting official forgery, inciting the concealment of serious or particularly serious crimes, and inciting the forgery of evidence in a criminal case related to serious or particularly serious crimes.