The Criminal Court of Appeal has completed the examination of the appeal against the decision to arrest Dr. Armen Charchyan—Izmirlian Medical Center director, and an MP candidate from the opposition "Armenia" bloc, led by second President Robert Kocharyan.

"The court left for the deliberation room, the decision will be announced on July 8," Erik Aleksanyan, one of Charchyan's attorneys, told this to reporters Tuesday.

"The prosecution claims that there is a grounded suspicion that Mr. Armen Charchyan is related to the commission of the act he is accused of and, in fact, it is the grounds that were presented at the court of first instance.

We [the defense] have presented our counter-arguments on this. We have asked the court to properly evaluate the video we have provided.

The prosecutor continues to claim that the risk of obstructing the investigation is high, and if Mr. Charchyan remains in freedom, he will influence the witnesses," Aleksanyan added.

The defense attorney noted that it was about 280 witnesses, but only 60 to 70 of them were interviewed. "According to the assessment of the defense, there is no accusatory testimony," Erik Aleksanyan said.

Charchyan has been charged under Article 154.2 of the Criminal Code—that is, giving bribes to voters, taking bribes, violating the ban on charity during elections, or obstructing the exercise of a voter's free will.

The court of first instance had ruled that he be remanded in custody. It had found that there were grounds to obstruct the investigation.

Also, the court had found Charchyan's detention to be illegal. After his release, he had given a press conference during which he had argued that the criminal case against him was concocted.

A recording was disseminated on the Internet, according to which Armen Charchyan was urging his employees at Izmirlian Medical Center to go and vote in the snap parliamentary elections on June 20. But according to his legal defense team, the edited version of that recording was submitted to the court, whereas in the full version, Charchyan had not threatened or put pressure on his employees.