YEREVAN. – Davit Vardanyan, the arrested son of Armenia’s Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Yuri Vardanyan, wrote a petition Tuesday and thereby refused the services of a public defender.

Davit Vardanyan’s now former public defender Rafik Safaryan told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He added that no reason was noted for refusing the services of a public defender, and the minister’s son had just decided to hire a paid attorney.    

Safaryan assured, however, that Davit Vardanyan should not have any complaints about him, whereas he is offended by the minister’s rather harsh words made against him.  

“If he [i.e., Yuri Vardanyan] is a decent person, he should apologize. I have not said anything bad, wrong. There is also the investigator’s decision that he [i.e., Davit Vardanyan] does not know Armenian well,” Rafik Safaryan said.   

To note, Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Yuri Vardanyan’s eldest son, Davit Vardanyan, 29, was arrested on the Iran-Armenia border recently. He was detained while attempting to smuggle drugs at the border. Subsequently, he was arrested and sent to a detention center in capital city Yerevan. A criminal case is opened against Davit Vardanyan, and on charges of illegal trafficking of narcotic drugs.

To the query as to whether it is true that his son does not know Armenian, as his public defender claims, Yuri Vardanyan had gotten angry and said some rather harsh words against the attorney.