Ex NSC secretary Armen Gevorgyan to remain in freedom

Yerevan Court of Appeal has left in force the decision of the first instance court not to arrest former deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan, the latter said, speaking to reporters after the decision was read in the courtroom.

“The court has left in force the decision of the court of first instance and denied the petitions of the two parties. As of now, the decision made by the first instance court is in force,” Gevorgyan said.

“Now I must go to work as I am losing very much time on these procedures. We have a number of projects in our company now, including investment programs,” Gevorgyan said.

The Yerevan court of general jurisdiction made a decision not to arrest Armen Gevorgyan but the prosecutor submitted a petition to the Court of Appeal.

Gevorgyan is charged with four articles of the Criminal Code, one of them is obstruction of justice. This case involves former judge of Constitutional Court Valery Poghosyan who is recognized as a victim in the case. According to the materials of the case, Gevorgyan  pressured Poghosyan for making decision in favor of Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan.

Poghosyan though denies the claims, saying no pressures were exercised on him. Preventive measure against Gevorgyan in this case was signature bond.

On December 11 it has been stated that additional charges are brought against him. Particularly, the latter is being charged with assistance to overthrow the constitutional order in the country on March 1, 2008, as well as for taking big amount of bribe and money laundering.

All the charges will be examined in the sidelines of March 1 criminal case.