The bail selected as a preventive measure against Ara Vardanyan, former director of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, has been lifted and arrest has been applied as a preventive measure against him. This was reported by Ara Vardanyan’s lawyer Yervand Varosyan, according to “Pastinfo.”
“A new charge has been brought against Ara Vardanyan under Part 3 of Article 179 of the RA Criminal Code, allegedly for embezzlement. In reality, the pretext for bringing the charge has been the fact that the products of one of the fund’s subsidiary enterprises were not delivered to the addressees, with which Ara Vardanyan could not have had any connection. The preliminary investigation body also did not present any evidence to the court that Ara Vardanyan could possibly be connected to any alleged embezzlement. We also do not consider it at all coincidental that, while the court was still in the deliberation room, the employees escorting Ara Vardanyan to the penitentiary institution arrived at the court…
The existence of such a charge, as well as the fact that arrest is being applied today as a preventive measure against a person who did not violate any condition of the bail selected for 1 year and 3 months, make it obvious that the reason for all this is Ara Vardanyan’s public socio-political activity.
Moreover, both this process and the recent circulation of information defaming the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund in connection with other criminal cases (including through an Azerbaijani presenting himself as an Armenian-American), give grounds to assert that the purpose of this is also to strike another blow at the fund’s reputation on the eve of the annual telethon,” wrote Yervand Varosyan on his Facebook page.
It should be noted that Ara Vardanyan’s defense has been undertaken by lawyers Yervand Varosyan and Lusine Sahakyan.
