Ex-minister Gagik Khachatryan to remain in custody

The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction rejected on Thursday the lawyers' petition to free Armenia’s former Chief o State Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan on bail. The defense team of the ex-minister petitioned to free Khachatryan from pre-trial arrest sought by the Prosecutor General's Office.

 

Gagik Khachatryan has been remanded in custody since May 2019. He is accused of the alleged abuse of power and misuse of state property while in office from 2008 to 2014.

 

Khachatryan does not accept the charges against him. His lawyers claim that the court does not have a shred of evidence that would allow it to form reasonable suspicion that the crimes ascribed to Khachatryan have occurred and that Gagik Khachatryan may have any connection with it.

 

The lawyers have also repeatedly pointed to Khachatryan's deteriorating health condition and the threat to his life.