Arman Vardanyan, the nephew Aram Vardanyan, who is known as a Yerevan neighborhood “authority,” and his neighbor were released late yesterday evening.

According to the information Armenian News-NEWS.am has ascertained, the court of first instance denied the investigative body's request to arrest them as a pretrial measure.

Aram Vardanyan's nephew has been charged with kidnapping, whereas the other person—with robbery.

At around 2:40am yesterday, hundreds of police officers entered the houses of Aram Vardanyan and his relatives at the same address. As a result, Vardanyan's son and two others were apprehended and two more were detained, one of whom is his nephew and the other—a neighbor.

The search at Aram Vardanyan’s house continued during the day yesterday. Investigators conducting the search had presented the search warrant to his lawyers. According to this court order, they were looking for weapons and ammunition in Vardanyan's house; but not finding such items, they took video recordings related to his personal life.