A total of 23 people have been detained and transferred to territorial divisions of the community police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.

Among those detained is also Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan.

Earlier, NEWS.am reported that early in the morning, law enforcement officers entered the Gyumri City Hall. Masked special forces blocked employees from entering or leaving the building. Citizens gathered outside the City Hall, where police detained several people.

In a special operation, masked officers quickly arrested Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan from the rear entrance of the City Hall and transported him by car to Yerevan, where he was taken to the Anti-Corruption Committee.

Later, the Anti-Corruption Committee announced that eight employees of the City Hall, including Mayor Ghukasyan, had been arrested on charges of giving and receiving bribes.

Among those arrested is also the city’s chief architect, Henrik Gasparyan. The Anti-Corruption Committee released a wiretapped recording capturing a conversation between the mayor and the chief architect.

It is worth noting that on October 1, during a session in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated:
"For the past six months, Gyumri has been governed by a clan whose head—known to many as ‘Vardanik,’ or, according to the charges, the father of a person who stole municipal brush cutters—has during this time allowed himself to make statements that recently publicly questioned the sovereignty of Armenia. Those who make statements against the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia must be removed from the political and public arena."