A Yerevan court on Monday granted the petition by the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia to remand suspended Judge Boris Bakhshiyan in custody.

Earlier, Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) had permitted to prosecute Judge Bakhshiyan as well as consented to detain him.

The basis for prosecuting Judge Bakhshiyan is that, according to the NSS, he had violated the procedure for precautionary measure. Accordingly, a defendant in a criminal case refused to appear in court, and Judge Bakhshiyan made a decision to have him arrested. According to the body conducting the proceedings, thus, Judge Bakhshiyan had not ensured the right of the defendant to be heard.

To note, Bakhshiyan is the judge who had commuted the pretrial measure of detention that was imposed against Ashot Minasyan—a.k.a. Ashot the Iron, the commander of the "Sisakan" detachment and a participant in the three wars—and released him on bail and a signature bond not to leave Armenia.

Judge Bakhshiyan’s lawyers consider these processes as a political persecution against him. According to them, with the decision, the SJC also had violated Judge Boris Bakhshiyan's constitutional right.