YEREVAN. – The Criminal Court of Appeal is examining the appeals by the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader, MP and business tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan's legal defenders and by the prosecutor's office in the criminal case involving him.

As reported earlier, the prosecutor's office has appealed the first-instance court's decision to deny the motion to arrest Gagik Tsarukyan as a pretrial measure, asking the appellate court to overturn this decision and to have the PAP leader arrested.

Tsarukyan's legal defenders, on the other hand, have filed two appeals, one of which concerns reasonable doubt. The defense considers that no evidence has been presented to the court that will substantiate Tsarukyan being involved in that criminal case.

The second appeal concerns the legality of the proceedings, which, according to the PAP leader’s lawyers, should have been initially investigated by the Special Investigation Service, and not by the National Security Service.

But Tsarukyan is not appearing in court, as he is infected with the coronavirus. One of his lawyers, Emin Khachatryan, had told Armenian News-NEWS.am that Tsarukyan was running a fever and had symptoms of pneumonia.

Gagik Tsarukyan is charged with vote buying, but he does not accept the charge and says it is unlawful.