YEREVAN. – A while ago, Dr. Armen Charchyan—Izmirlian Medical Center director, and an MP candidate from the opposition "Armenia" bloc, led by second President Robert Kocharyan—came out from the Vardashen penitentiary in Yerevan.

He was greeted by his colleagues, close circles, and attorneys.

"This is a legal process that shall receive a legal response. The future process, the trial will show," Charchyan told reporters outside the prison.

Referring to his being in prison for a month, Armen Charchyan said: "I was probably one of the beneficiaries because I rested for a month (…), whereas all the people I could have helped suffered.”

When asked about his current health condition, the doctor responded: "The tremendous journey I have gone through (…), all that has its price; its price is life and health. ”

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that the Yerevan court today released Armen Charchyan on a bail of 15 million drams (approx. US$30,390).

Armen Charchyan has been charged under Article 154.2 of the Criminal Code—that is, giving bribes to voters, taking bribes, violating the ban on charity during elections, or obstructing the exercise of a voter's free will.

A recording was disseminated on the Internet, according to which Armen Charchyan was urging his employees at Izmirlian Medical Center to go and vote in the snap parliamentary elections on June 20. But according to his legal defense team, the edited version of that recording was submitted to the court, whereas in the full version, Charchyan had not threatened or put pressure on his employees.