ArmInfo. The team of lawyers of the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan filed an appeal requesting that the absence of reasonable grounds for doubting his guilt be approved. Tsarukyan's lawyer Smbat Minasyan said this on his Facenook page. <We submitted an appeal against the decision of the court of first instance of general jurisdiction of Yerevan to consider the application for the use of arrest as a preventive measure against Gagik Tsarukyan. We asked the court to consider as approved the absence of reasonable grounds for doubt, as well as the fact of violation of a number of other issues raised by us in the court of first instance>, Minasyan noted. Recall that charges were brought against Tsarukyan on the grounds of part 2 of Article 154.2 (bribing voters) of the RA Criminal Code.
As part of the investigative measures, information was received that state officials, through the organized criminal mechanism, before and after the elections to the Council of Elders of Yerevan scheduled for May 14, 2017, prompted about 100-120 thousand of RA citizens with the right to vote, temporarily leave their places of registration and formally move to Yerevan in violation of the requirements established by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia and other legal acts, as well as using false documents. To this end, citizens were persuaded through financial assistance or other illegal means. Further, having moved to Yerevan and registered in various administrative districts of the capital, which are not actually their temporary or permanent place of residence, the above persons were included in the voter list, and thus secured the necessary number of votes for the elections to the Council of Elders Yerevan. Immediately after the completion of the election, these persons were again transferred and registered in real places of their residence.
In addition, evidence was obtained that the members of the Prosperous Armenia Party founded on April 30, 2004, participating in parliamentary and local government elections held in different years in the Republic of Armenia in order to secure votes for their party, personally or through various intermediaries, they provided voters with money, property or any advantages as a bribe.
On June 15, 2020, a criminal case was opened in the Investigative Department of the National Security Council of the Republic of Armenia on the grounds of part 2 of article 308, paragraph 2, 4 and 5 of part 2 of article 149, part 2 of article 154.2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia; large-scale investigative and procedural actions and operational search measures are being taken. On June 21, a court of general jurisdiction refused to satisfy the SNB's motion to elect a preventive measure in the form of arrest in relation to Tsarukyan.