The Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan on Friday denied the motion of the defense attorneys to release Aghvan Hovsepyan—former Prosecutor General and former Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Armenia—on bail—and on the grounds of this motion being unfounded.

The attorneys had noted that there were no data in the criminal case that would substantiate the possibility of obstructing the case. According to them, keeping Hovsepyan in custody is an end in itself, and the criminal case is based exclusively on the ambitions of two people.

According to the indictment based on the Special Investigation Service findings, Hovsepyan, who held the post of Prosecutor General, then Chairman of the Investigative Committee, from 2004 to 2018, had legalized—i.e., money laundering—1,299,404,414 drams (approx. $2,854,105), participated in the management of a number of business companies, taken 190 million drams (approx. $417,329) in bribes, and fraudulently stolen 800 million drams (approx. $1,757,177) worth of property.

Aghvan Hovsepyan has been charged under several articles of the Criminal Code, and is remanded in custody.

Aghvan Hovsepyan does not accept the charge. His lawyers claim that Hovsepyan is apparently illegally taken into custody, and demand that a criminal case be opened in this regard.