Boris Bakhshiyan, a suspended judge at the Syunik provincial court of general jurisdiction of Armenia, has just been released from custody.

"I am of the same opinion as three months ago. And I insist that this was a direct—moreover, atrocious—interference in my activities as a judge. And what my lawyers have submitted with justification has not changed at all. I reiterate that my judicial decision I made is legal and well-founded. What I thought, I wrote in that judicial decision," Bakhshiyan told reporters shortly after his release.

We had reported earlier that the basis for prosecuting Boris Bakhshiyan is that, according to the National Security Service, 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, Boris 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, the Supreme Judicial Council, in turn, had violated Boris Bakhshiyan's constitutional right with that decision.