Gagik Khachatryan`s family lawyers warn of political persecution of  their clients

ArmInfo.  The lawyers for the family of former Yerevan Mayor and former Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Khachatryan issued a statement expressing  concern about the political persecution of Khachatryan and his family  members, which, they say, gained momentum just two days before the  upcoming National Assembly elections and continues to this day.

"Having determined that Gagik Khachatryan's arrest was impossible,  investigative and prosecutorial authorities began the process of  applying a preventive measure in the form of detention to his son,  Artyom Khachatryan. And yesterday evening, at the prosecutor's  request, decisions were made to detain Artyom and Aram Khachatryan in  a criminal case being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Court of  Armenia for failing to appear for court hearings twice within a  week," the lawyers' team said in a statement received by ArmInfo.

The defense notes that this occurred after medical documents were  presented to the court proving that they cannot temporarily return to  Armenia. The lawyers point out that these documents make it clear  that they are undergoing short-term treatment abroad, are prohibited  from flying, and can only appear after completing their treatment.

The statement also emphasizes that the primary purpose of pretrial  detention is to ensure Artem and Aram Khachaturyan's presence at  court hearings, so they are not delayed.

"Based on the above, we filed a motion to postpone the court hearing  for just five days so that the new amendments to the RA Criminal  Procedure Code would come into force on July 6, 2026, and the human  rights group would have the opportunity to petition for the hearing  to be held without Artyom and Aram Khachatryan, as stipulated by this  amendment. According to this legislation, persons accused of serious  and especially serious crimes may petition the court to hold the  hearing in their absence. In other words, if Artyom and Aram  Khachatryan had filed a motion to hold the court hearing in their  absence on July 7, 2026, the hearing would have proceeded normally.  However, the court inexplicably rejected the motion to postpone the  hearing and unreasonably ruled that the medical records did not  justify their absence, and that a decision on their detention should  be made today," the legal team emphasized.

It is added that the prosecutor's office's motions to remand Artyom  and Aram Khachatryan into custody are clearly unlawful and baseless,  and the court's decision is illegal and does not stem from the  interests of human rights and freedoms.

"The political goals of this trial are confirmed by the public  political rhetoric of the Armenian Prime Minister. As is well known,  during the election campaign, various government representatives  spoke of the need to arrest numerous officials of the previous  government, confiscate their property, etc. Gagik Khachatryan's name  was also mentioned, and officials of the current government at the  highest levels expressed surprise that Gagik Khachatryan had not yet  been arrested.

Immediately after all this, illegal actions by investigative bodies,  the prosecutor's office, and NSS officers began: just two days before  the elections, on June 5, 2026, masked NSS officers, along with an  investigator, burst into the apartment of Gagik and Artyom  Khachatryan, declaring that they should be arrested for an act  committed back in 2010, for which a detailed investigation had been  conducted back in 2019 and the fact that no crime had been  committed," the Khachatryan family's lawyers emphasized.

The defense noted that neither Gagik Khachatryan nor Artyom  Khachatryan have been called for questioning in this case before or  now, at least not once.

"We are confident that it is obvious to everyone why a non-crime  suddenly turned into a crime. We declare that we will continue to  fight political persecution by Armenian law enforcement agencies,  disguised as criminal cases using legal instruments, not only in  Armenian courts but also in international courts," the legal team  said in a statement.

As a reminder, Gagik Beglaryan was charged with alleged abuse of  office and large-scale money laundering. He has been in custody since  June 5 and denies the charges.