Arsen Gevorgyan, the Strong Armenia party’s candidate for mayor of Stepanavan, has been placed in pretrial detention for two months, Sputnik Armenia reports, citing the Anti-Corruption Court.
The court is still examining motions concerning 13 other individuals detained as part of the same criminal proceedings. No decisions have yet been issued regarding their detention.
Earlier, it emerged that law enforcement officers had conducted searches at the Strong Armenia party’s office in Stepanavan, resulting in the detention of 14 people in total. They are accused of distributing electoral bribes, facilitating the distribution of such bribes, and accepting electoral bribes.
Local council elections in the enlarged Stepanavan community of Armenia’s Lori region are scheduled for October 25. Voting will take place under a proportional representation system, with four political parties competing. The electoral list of the Businessman party is headed by Stepanavan’s incumbent mayor, Armen Grigoryan, while the Civil Contract party’s list is led by Arayik Nersisyan, former head of the enlarged Lori Berd community.
The Strong Armenia party is contesting the elections with a list headed by Arsen Gevorgyan, while the Republic party’s electoral list is led by Artak Aleksanyan.
