Court Rejects Petition from Gagik Khachatryan's Defense Team

The first instance court has just rejected the petition for the bail substitution of the former head of the Internal Security Department of the State Revenue Committee, Karen Khachatryan. This was reported to NEWS.am by his lawyer, Amram Makinyan. It is worth noting that the petition was examined by Judge Anna Matevosyan.

According to a decision by the Court of Appeals dated February 17, 2020, the ruling by the Yerevan City General Jurisdiction Court on January 22, 2020, which allowed for the replacement of Karen Khachatryan's detention with a bail of 20 million AMD, has been overturned, rendering his release on bail from detention unacceptable.

Amram Makinyan emphasized that such a decision was expected for him: “The issue of a person's liberty is examined four times by one court, under one judge, when the court decides for the fourth time that Karen Khachatryan should no longer be kept in detention and releases the individual. After that, when the Appellate Court changes the measure of restraint to detention, and the defense side presents a petition which is ‘unexpectedly’ assigned again to that judge, then one must be at least naïve not to understand that the decision will be made in favor of the prosecuting authority.”

It should be reminded that Karen Khachatryan served as the head of the Internal Security Department of the State Revenue Committee. He is accused of significant embezzlement.

In the same criminal case, charges have also been filed against his uncle, former head of the State Revenue Committee and former Minister of Finance, Gagik Khachatryan. The petition for Gagik Khachatryan's measure of restraint in the form of detention is currently being examined by the court. Both Gagik Khachatryan and Karen Khachatryan are charged under Article 308, Part 2, and Article 179, Part 3, Section 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia.