During the court hearing over the case of member of the opposition ‘Armenia’ bloc, Director of Izmirlian Medical Center and doctor Armen Charchyan in Yerevan court of general jurisdiction, Chachyan delivered a speech.

Charchyan’s attorneys have submitted a petition to the court to replace the arrest pre-trial measure with bail and claim that the grounds for keeping Charchyan in custody are missing.

“Here there was talk about overriding interest. What is the overriding interest of me remaining or not remaining in custody? The overriding interest of me not remaining in custody is the health of citizens of Armenia. Every month, I perform 20-30 complicated surgeries that other doctors can’t perform, and even if they do perform them, it’s not at my level. I oversee 200-250 surgeries a month. For one month, 20 citizens have been deprived of the opportunity to undergo the most complicated surgeries at the highest level, 500-550 citizens have been deprived of the opportunity to receive high-class consultation. This is the overriding interest,” Charchyan stated.

Charchyan is charged with giving bribes to voters, taking bribes, violating the ban on charity during elections, or obstructing the exercise of a voter’s free will.

An audio recording was disseminated on the Internet in which Charchyan urges his employees of Izmirlian Medical Center to participate in the snap parliamentary elections. According to the defense, the edited version of the audio recording was submitted to the court, and in the full version of the audio recording, there was no threat made to or pressure on the employees.