YEREVAN. – The Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan is considering the Special Investigation Service (SIS) petition to detain Armen Tavadyan, the owner of 5th Channel television of Armenia.

The day before, the court had begun to consider Tavadyan's lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan's appeal against the lawfulness of his client’s detention. At the time when the lawyer's appeal was being considered, the SIS filed a motion to detain Tavadyan. According to the legislation, the two issues are considered interrelated, and therefore examined at the same time.

Armen Tavadyan has been arrested in connection with the case of Varuzhan Mkrtchyan, a supporter of Armenia's second President Robert Kocharyan. Mkrtchyan has been charged under the Criminal Code with bribing a witness or an injured party to give false testimony on a crime committed by a criminal group. According to police, Varuzhan Mkrtchyan had called one of the victims of the March 1, 2008 events to his office and proposed to this person to decline from the victim's status and the testimony given and not go to court hearings, saying he was ready to pay this person the money the state would provide as financial aid.