A motion to lift attachment imposed on the assets of third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan was filed during today’s court hearing held at Yerevan court of general jurisdiction.

Sargsyan’s defense counsel Ruben Hakobyan said when Sargsyan was involved as an accused after questioning and confrontation of a witness with clarification of the rights of a suspect on December 4, 2019, in the final part of the minutes of the questioning, the defense counsels had submitted a motion to provide the copies of all the procedural documents that Sargsyan has the right to receive and become familiar with in the given stage of criminal procedure.

“On December 13 and 20, the investigator sent a letter and motion to examine the decision, and by the letter and motion, the defense wasn’t provided with the copies of the decisions that were required and had to be provided, and among those decisions was the decision on imposing attachment on the assets. On the evening of December 18, the defense found out from the presses that the investigator had imposed attachment on the assets of Sargsyan and Beglaryan. A day later, the defense submitted a motion to the preliminary investigation body to provide the copy of the decision on imposing attachment on Sargsyan’s assets and present the evidence that serve as a ground to assume that Sargsyan could hide, destroy or consume the assets to be confiscated, but on December 16, the defense received the investigator’s decision on partially rejecting the motion,” Hakobyan said, adding that the investigator had imposed attachment on Sargsyan’s assets with the reasoning that the third President has held top positions within various public administration bodies and that his connections serve as a ground to assume that he might, personally or through another person, hide, alienate or consume the assets belonging to him by ownership right.

Hakobyan stressed that the investigator’s decision on imposing attachment on Sargsyan’s assets is unlawful and clearly unsubstantiated and unreasoned.

According to the indictment of this criminal case, being organized by Sargsyan, pushed by Beglaryan, and assisted by Galstyan and Harutyunyan, Karapetyan had squandered—from January 25 to February 7, 2013—AMD 489,160,310 of subsidy allocated from the government's reserve fund for the 15,391,765 liters of diesel fuel that was used during the implementation of state assistance programs.

Serzh Sargsyan has been charged under the Criminal Code article on large-scale embezzlement or squandering.

The third president, however, does not accept the charge against him. And his lawyer Amram Makinyan claims that the charge is concocted.