The court session on the criminal case against former Prime Minister of Armenia Vazgen Manukyan got underway Tuesday at the Avan district court of the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction.

Manukyan has been charged under Criminal Code Article 301 (making public calls for seizing power, violating territorial integrity, or forcibly overthrowing the constitutional order), and a signature bond not to leave Armenia has been enforced as a pretrial measure against him.

Vazgen Manukyan, however, does not accept the charge brought against him, and he considers it a political persecution.