ArmInfo.The defense of the former Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan, who is under house arrest, intends to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after exhausting all possibilities within the national courts, the lawyer of the former minister, Tigran Yegoryan, told a press conference on April 17.
According to the lawyer, the investigation into the case started at the beginning of 2023, large-scale operational search activities were carried out and in January of this year. The public stage of the criminal case began. Representatives of the public and private sectors were detained and then arrested. <After 3 months we can record that there are only 8 accused in the case. According to the official version, the case is that within the framework of the tender, a biased attitude was shown towards one of the participants, and actions were taken to ensure the latter's victory. It is on the basis of this assumption that this case is being investigated," Yegoryan noted.
Meanwhile, over the past 12 months, all kinds of evidence within the framework of the law have been collected, the lawyer noted. At the same time, in his assessment, the actions of law enforcement officers were unlawful, both in their duration and in the methods of obtaining information. In particular, unfounded operational and investigative measures were carried out, which led to significant interference in personal life. And most importantly, they did not give the "desired" result, he noted.
Over the past period, the preliminary investigation body had to take stock of the work done, take appropriate actions, identifying the necessary grounds and evidence for the accusation, and then send the case to court or terminate it. "These actions could have been carried out in 2-3 months, but we see that this was not done. Moreover, Mr. Kerobyan patiently, without unnecessary noise or nervous manifestations, waited at home and gave the investigation the time necessary," the lawyer noted.
However, in fact, over the past 2 months the investigation has again studied all the documents that had already been studied before. Also in February, all face-to-face bidding was completed. And in March-April repeated interrogations were carried out. The data is already recorded on disks and media and does not require restrictions on the accused, fearing that they may somehow influence the content of these materials. At the same time, according to Yegorian, of all the defendants in the case, only Kerobyan is under house arrest; there are even those who have returned to work, including in the Ministry of Economy. At the same time, the ex-head of the Ministry of Economy is limited in communication, except for close relatives and a lawyer. Even remotely, he cannot work and earn money, meanwhile he has 5 children and a mother in his care. He is not even allowed to see a doctor, including a dentist, or a hairdresser. Kerobyan is allowed to go to the hospital only in case of a threat to life. At the same time, he has loan obligations, and financial resources are already running out.
The goal of the investigation, according to the lawyer, is to apply socio-economic and financial pressure on Kerobyan using old methods. "The task is to break a person, to apply pressure, to create socio-economic difficult conditions that affect the dignity of a person, which in the future should give some result to the investigation," Yegoryan noted.
According to him, Kerobyan's defense understood that soon other defendants in the case would be released due to the fact that they "gave testimony on circumstances of significant importance for the criminal proceedings" (in particular, the head of the Synergy company, the daughter-in-law of the Speaker of Parliament Anya Gevorkyan and Lily Mkryan, employee of <Synergy> - ed.). "Initially the target was Kerobyan. This whole combination was built in order to carry out prosecution (criminal) against him: However, there is no decision yet regarding the outcome of the case," said the lawyer.
Kerobyan, who announced his resignation on February 14, is accused of abuse and exceeding official powers in a case of abuse in the Ministry of Economy of Armenia. According to the investigation, there are eight suspects in the case, five of them are high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Economy, three are representatives of the company that won the competition to create the Bank of State Investment Projects in 2022. Kerobyan does not admit guilt. The Anti-Corruption Court in Yerevan sent him under arrest on February 16 house arrest for a period of two months, which was recently extended for another 2 months.