New charges against Gyumri mayor

ArmInfo.  Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan, whose powers have been suspended, has been charged with a third offense - hooliganism. Ghukasyan was arrested on October 21 in connection with a bribery case, and on October 26, his lawyers announced a new case against him - for "public calls to renounce Armenia's sovereignty" in connection with his statements about a union with Russia and Belarus.

Now, according to the Investigative Committee, Ghukasyan has been  charged under Article 297 of the country's Criminal Code: hooliganism  committed by a group of persons using information or communication  technologies (the maximum penalty is up to 5 years in prison). It is  noted that the new prosecution against Ghukasyan was initiated as  part of the investigation into the case of his son, Spartak  Ghukasyan. According to media reports, the third charge concerns  statements made recently at the Anti- Corruption Committee. Earlier  in court, Ghukasyan told reporters that "justice will prevail, and  the internal Turk will be raped."

The day before, Spartak Ghukasyan was arrested under the same charge.  His lawyer, Zaruhi Postanjyan, reported during a live broadcast on  Facebook that her client, who is under house arrest, was summoned to  the Shirak Regional Investigative Department under the pretext of  conducting an investigation. According to her, when he approached the  building, intending to enter, masked police officers surrounded  Ghukasyan, preventing him from moving, and abducted him, taking him  to an unknown location, presumably to Yerevan, to the Investigative  Committee.

According to media reports, the younger Ghukasyan was detained for  using obscene language while speaking to reporters after a court  hearing. The court will publish its decision on the investigative  body's motion to arrest Spartak Ghukasyan today at 2:00 PM.

As a reminder, on October 1, in the Armenian parliament, Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Ghukasyan of vote-buying and called  his election as head of the city administration a misunderstanding,  promising to "rectify this situation."