Arush Arushanyan to Remain in Custody

At the general jurisdiction court of Syunik region in Goris, presided by judge Gnel Gasparyan, the motion to replace the custody measure for Goris community mayor Arush Arushanyan with bail was rejected today, December 28. The defense had set the bail amount at 30 million AMD.

It is noteworthy that the case is already in the trial phase, and the court has begun reviewing the evidence presented in the case. At the previous court session, the head of the Karahunj community, Lusine Avetyan, had recanted her accusatory testimony against Arush Arushanyan, stating that she had given false testimony. She indicated that Arushanyan had met with residents, listened to their social issues, and made decisions to provide assistance based on that. “Arushanyan has helped these residents multiple times, and to view this as bribery is unacceptable. I regret giving false testimony against Arushanyan,” said Lusine Avetyan, adding that she had been psychologically pressured while at the Abovyan penitentiary due to various health problems, which compelled her to make such statements, and that no one had coerced her to give that testimony.

Avetyan also mentioned that pressure had been exerted on the residents of her village to declare that Arushanyan had provided them with election bribes and stated that she had supported the “Armenia” bloc and conducted campaign activities in accordance with the law.

Goris mayor Arush Arushanyan is accused of preparing a serious crime with intent based on personal and group interests during the pre-election campaign for the snap parliamentary elections in which he participated as a candidate from the “Armenia” bloc, specifically for providing bribes to two or more voters to ensure maximum votes from the community’s electorate and to record a favorable result in the elections, under Article 35-154.2 (part 2) and Article 38-149 (part 4) and Article 38-154.2 (part 3) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. Furthermore, according to the charges, Arushyan has organized the coercion of the voters from the Karahunj settlement through the administrative leader Lusine Avetyan to participate in the snap parliamentary elections set for June 20, 2021, and to vote in favor of the “Armenia” bloc.

Arushanyan denies the charges against him. His defenders classify these criminal cases as a political persecution against Arushanyan.