Owner of Fifth Channel Armen Tavadyan refuses to be connected to the Special Investigation Service in any way. This is what Tavadyan’s attorney, Hovhannes Khudoyan told journalists today.

Armen Tavadyan was arrested today, and he is, according to the Police of Armenia, charged under the criminal case regarding Varuzhan Mkrtchyan, who is one of the supporters of second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.

The attorney informed that Tavadyan hasn’t displayed any attitude or testified in regard to this case. “Tavadyan believes there is no ground for criminal prosecution against him under this case. In some sense, this was done to keep him away from politics and silence him as an owner of a mass media outlet,” he said.

According to the attorney, there are ambiguous and illogical statements in the record of the arrest. “The grounds remain unclear because the record of arrest states “the actions of other persons” and doesn’t state that Tavadyan has committed any act. At the end, the actions of those persons are ascribed to Tavadyan. There is no logical explanation of the particular act that the Special Investigation Service considers unlawful,” he said.

When asked if the signature selected as a preventive measure for Varuzhan Mkrtchyan serves as an occasion to make assumptions, the attorney said the following: “The assumptions need to be documented and then presented to the public.”

Varuzhan Mkrtchyan is charged with the act of bribing to make a false testimony, committed by an organized group. Tavadyan has been arrested within the scope of this criminal case and is suspected of committing the mentioned criminal act.

Signature to not leave the country has been selected as a preventive measure for Varuzhan Mkrtchyan.

Based on the video released by the Police of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan’s supporter Varuzhan Mkrtchyan invited to his office in Kanaker district one of the persons affected by the events of March 1, 2008 and offered the person to refuse to be a victim, refuse to testify and not appear during the trials and informed the person that he was ready to pay the amount that the government was going to pay him as financial assistance. Besides, Varuzhan Mkrtchyan had promised to appoint the victim to a high position after shift of power.