The Criminal Court of Appeal on Tuesday ruled that Aghvan Hovsepyan—former Prosecutor General and former Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Armenia—shall continue to be remanded in custody.

Hovsepyan's attorneys had appealed the first instance court's decision to leave Hovsepyan's precautionary measure of arrest unchanged. They had motioned the court to commute his aforesaid precautionary measure to release on bail—and due to Aghvan Hovsepyan's health condition.

According to the indictment based on the Special Investigation Service findings, Aghvan 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.

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 illegally taken into custody, and demand that a criminal case be opened in this regard.