ArmInfo. I will certainly achieve acquittal for myself and all the other defendants whom the law enforcement system forced to repent in order to stop criminal prosecution. Former Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan wrote on his Facebook page in connection with the end of his 4-month house arrest.
Having reported that the investigation of the criminal case is nearing completion, he noted that his initial position regarding the fictitiousness of the case and the pursuit of other goals has only strengthened. "I am looking forward to the moment when it will be possible to imagine how charges are formed against honest and incorruptible people, those people whose motivation is real state and official interest, selfless work for the benefit of Armenia, and not mass indifference," the former minister said.
Vahan Kerobyan also recalled with pain his former colleague, Deputy Minister Ani Ispiryan, whose selfless work, according to him, was awarded such "gratitude" by the government in the case that she moved to Armenia during the 44-day war.
"I want to express my gratitude to Ani and hope that one day Armenia will learn to value its sons and daughters who, driven by patriotism, join from different parts of the world to strengthen their country," he emphasized. The former minister said that last week the defense filed complaints against the illegal decisions of the prosecutor's office.
Kerobyan also spoke about his achievements while under house arrest. He called the most important event during this time the birth of his first granddaughter, who became a source of new love for him.
At the same time, the former Economy Minister noted that he had not wasted his time and had already read most of the Bible, read and reread fiction and specialized literature, completed Andrew Ung's advanced machine learning course at Stanford University, Python courses at the University of Michigan, absorbed interesting research related to artificial intelligence and related fields and began to apply them, immersed himself in psychology, read several books in this field, and involuntarily also studied criminal law and the work of the law enforcement system as a whole. "As some friends had predicted even before my isolation, I will emerge from this trial as a stronger, more resilient person, enriched with new knowledge," Kerobyan noted. He also said that during his time under house arrest, he received unconditional love and tremendous support from his large family every day. "Many kind people provided me with such powerful support that one could only dream of," Kerobyan noted. The former minister said that he intends to thank everyone for their care, but this will take some time, since the list of these people is quite large. It should be noted that Kerobyan, who announced his resignation on February 14, is accused of abuse and exceeding official powers in the case of abuses in the Ministry of Economy of Armenia. According to the investigation, there are eight suspects in the case, five of whom 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.
On February 16, the Anti-Corruption Court in Yerevan placed him under house arrest for two months, which was extended for another 2 months.
During a recent press conference of Vahan Kerobyan's defense, it was announced that at the moment, out of 8 defendants, charges have already been dropped against 6. The decision to terminate the criminal prosecution was made due to the fact that these 6 defendants formally admitted guilt and repented. However, upon detailed analysis of the materials, it becomes obvious that the initial testimonies of the defendants in the case indicate that the latter do not admit their guilt and claim that they did not commit certain acts. But in order to free themselves from this story, they agree to stop the prosecution against themselves on such terms.
When studying the video materials with the testimony, as lawyer Tigran Yegoryan further explained, it was once again confirmed that these were not interrogations, but rather the recording of desired facts through the use of various propaganda methods. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that all decisions taken by the investigative bodies indicate that no damage was caused to the state. "Otherwise, with such a basis as repentance, it would have been impossible to stop the criminal prosecution. And, therefore, the question remains open - if no damage was caused, then what is this case about?," Yegoryan asked. In addition, the case materials do not contain any facts indicating abuse of power by Vahan Kerobyan, which is what he was accused of.