YEREVAN. – The Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan has completed the examination of the appeal against the detention and the motion for the arrest of Tavadyan, the owner of 5th Channel television of Armenia. Tavadyan's lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan said this in a conversation with journalists today.

“The decision will be announced today at 4pm; the court left for the consultation room,” he said, in particular. “We have objected to the court that a person cannot be arrested on this quality material. The indictment submitted has no legal justification.”

Armen Tavadyan has been detained 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.