Artsakh resident whose family deprived of voting rights placed under  house arrest on charges of accepting election bribe from Strong  Armenia

ArmInfo.  The Anti-Corruption Court of Armenia has placed Artsakh resident Gegham Zakarian, whose family has been deprived of voting rights in Armenia's June  parliamentary elections, under house arrest for two months for  allegedly accepting an election bribe from the "Strong Armenia" party  in exchange for promising to vote for Karapetyan's bloc with his  family in the June elections.

Artsakh lawyer Roman Yeritsyan announced this in a video posted on  his Facebook page. The lawyer explained that Zakarian is accused in  the case of Artur Avanesyan (Kandaz), a legendary Artsakh  intelligence officer, recipient of the Second Degree Combat Cross,  and head of the Strong Armenia security team. Avanesyan was  previously jailed for two months by the Anti-Corruption Court in  connection with an election bribery case. "He is charged under  Article 218 of the Armenian Criminal Code (accepting an election  bribe - ed.). The court partially granted the investigator's motion,  placing Zakarian under house arrest and prohibiting him from  communicating with anyone except close relatives," the lawyer stated.

Yeritsyan called the court's decision illegal, unlawful, and  unfounded. He is convinced that the motion should have been denied  due to the lack of reasonable suspicion. "According to the wiretap,  Zakaryan allegedly accepted a bribe to promise to vote for himself  and his family members in the parliamentary elections scheduled for  June 7, 2026, for the Strong Armenia party. However, it later became  known that everyone except him, namely four members of his family,  does not have Armenian citizenship and does not even have passive  electoral rights, meaning they are not allowed to vote," Yeritsyan  noted.

The lawyer noted that the charges are essentially being brought  against a man who, along with his family, was forcibly displaced from  Artsakh and is the sole breadwinner. He is also a veteran of two  wars, during which he was seriously wounded, all for uttering the  phrase that he would "be with Strong Armenia and his friend Artur  Avanesyan." "All of this is being done with one goal in mind-to  create an atmosphere of fear in Armenia," the lawyer asserted. In  conclusion, he stated that he intends to appeal the court's decision  immediately upon receiving it. As a reminder, on April 27, the  Anti-Corruption Committee announced that Avanesyan and several others  had been detained in connection with an election bribery case.  According to the statement, the case was initiated based on wiretaps  of Avanesyan's communications. On April 28, lawyer Aram Vardevanyan  announced that Artur Avanesyan (Kandaz) had been arrested for two  months by order of the Anti-Corruption Court.