The Anti-Corruption Court has extended the detention of Gagik Khachatryan, former chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) and former finance minister, by another two months, granting a motion filed by the investigator. Khachatryan’s lawyer, Yerem Sargsyan, informed journalists of the decision following its announcement, Panorama.am reports.
“In any case, the court decided to extend the detention. I must point out that, following extensive discussions during the hearing, it became clear that the investigative body had not carried out any actions directly related to the existing charges. We demonstrated that they had done a considerable amount of work, including examining items seized during searches and sending inquiries to government agencies. Now, our argument is this: you detained him to prevent him from obstructing your investigative activities. But even if Gagik Khachatryan wanted to, he could not interfere with them. If an investigator is sitting and examining materials, is Khachatryan supposed to go and obstruct him?” Sargsyan said.
He added that his client’s continued detention was unjustified and served no meaningful purpose.
According to the lawyer, investigators are now arguing that Khachatryan should remain in custody for another two months to allow them to conduct further investigative activities, presumably to obtain expert examination results and question witnesses.
Sargsyan said he would wait to receive the written court decision before providing a detailed assessment. At the same time, he expressed confidence that if a recording of the closed-door hearing ever became available, anyone, whether legally trained or not, would recognize that there were no grounds for detention or even house arrest.
