On March 11, Armenia's Anti-Corruption Court found Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan not guilty, while convicting former Multi Group head Sedrak Arustamyan.
On March 11, the Anti-Corruption Court, presided over by Aram Grigoryan, ruled to recognize and declare Prosperous Armenia party leader Gagik Tsarukyan innocent in the “vote-buying case.”
In the same trial, Sedrak Arustamyan, who previously headed the Multi Group company, was found guilty by the court under the article on obstructing a voter's free expression of will, Sputnik Armenia reported.
One of Tsarukyan's lawyers, Yerem Sargsyan, told the court that Gagik Tsarukyan had been subjected to political persecution and pressure with the aim of silencing him. According to the defense lawyer, the reason was that Tsarukyan had frequently communicated with the media and voiced critical assessments of the authorities. In particular, on one occasion he said that the government should be completely replaced because there had been failures in all sectors.
As an example, the lawyer also cited a statement made on June 6, 2020, by then-prime minister Nikol Pashinyan's spokesperson, Mane Gevorgyan:
“If Mr. Tsarukyan thinks that his political statements will divert the normal course of the investigation, that is a miscalculation, because in Armenia everyone is equal before the law, including before the law on the confiscation of illegally acquired property, which Mr. Tsarukyan may also have reason to be concerned about.”
According to Sargsyan, the prime minister's spokesperson made that statement at a time when no criminal case concerning the distribution of election bribes yet existed.
“We are pleasantly surprised by the court's decision. Having followed the entire process, we did not have a gram of doubt, from a legal standpoint, that there had to be an acquittal. We presented everything in detail; there was not a single piece of evidence that Mr. Tsarukyan had committed any crime, but the processes and these political developments suggested that the court was constrained,” defense lawyer Yerem Sargsyan told reporters after the hearing.
Gagik Tsarukyan also commented on the case, saying:
“They questioned 2,600 people, 110 investigators, and not one of them mentioned Gagik Tsarukyan's name,” Tsarukyan said.
He also said that before the court's ruling he had not believed such a verdict could be delivered, and that the possibility of applying to the European Court of Human Rights had already been discussed.
On June 14, 2020, the National Security Service conducted a search at Gagik Tsarukyan's mansion. Three criminal cases were opened against him, one of which concerned the 2017 parliamentary elections. According to the case materials, Prosperous Armenia distributed hundreds of thousands of drams in election bribes among voters.
