Armenian Officials Insist They Didn’t Ask for Bribes in Exchange for Amnesty

A criminal case has been launched against two employees of the Armavir subdivision for alternative service on charges of soliciting bribes to grant amnesty.

Attorneys of the two officials, Sahak Harutyunyan and Aleksander Khachatryan, however, insist their clients are being framed and there is no evidence against them, except for the changing testimonies of the victim named in the case. Head of the Armavir subdivision Sahak Harutyunyan's attorney Inessa Petrosyan said her client only spoke with the victim, Babken Budaghyan, and said he could be granted amnesty if amnesty wasn't granted previously and if there is no civil suit against him. There wasn't even a phone call made between Harutyunyan and Budaghyan. 

The only proof in the case is that Budaghyan gave Armavir subdivision leading specialist Aleksander Khachatryan 400,000 AMD (about $960 USD) as a bribe. 

According to the attorney, Inessa Petrosyan, the victim changed his testimony twice. The second time he said that Sahak Harutyunyan demanded nothing from him; later, he claimed the opposite. "The victim has a previous conviction [for fraud]; he is under the control of law enforcement bodies; pressure has been applied to him," Petrosyan told the press.

Though attorneys of the accused Inessa Petrosyan and Givi Hovhannisyan submitted complaints to the Special Investigation Service (SIS) to quash the case and conduct new investigations, the SIS said it didn't receive any complaints and has sent the case to court. 

The first hearing on the case will be held on April 25. The accused have been in pre-trial detention since October 14, 2013, at the Vardashen Penitentiary. 

According to the attorneys, the SIS is just trying to show that it's doing its part in the fight against corruption.