The owner of TV 5th Channel Armen Tavadyan congratulated the second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and his supporters on the upcoming New Year.

"I am referring to places of deprivation of liberty, where I ended up as a result of a state policy to prevent dissent and isolation of those who criticize the activities of the authorities," he said. "I never hid and do not hide that I do not share the false slogans of the 'revolution' and the empty value system, and I always did everything to promote democracy and freedom of speech in Armenia."

"I want to express my gratitude to those who support me these days. Happy New Year to all of you," he said. "I also congratulate my friend, the first president of Artsakh and the second president of Armenia, who is already celebrating his second New Year in captivity."

As reported earlier, on December 26 the court of first instance of general jurisdiction of Yerevan granted the request of the Special Investigation Service for the arrest of of 5th Channel owner Armen Tavadyan.

Armen Tavadyan was 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.