Epress.am News from Armenia
“On Wednesday, January the 18th, Yerevan’s Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun district court will hear a fabricated case against human rights activist Marina Poghosyan. For years, the prosecutor’s office has been using malicious prosecution to put pressure on the Veles human rights NGO and its head Marina Poghosyan, and yet another fake case has now been taken to court,” Veles, a Yerevan-based non-profit fighting against usury, said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Over the years, the statement reads, Veles has managed to uncover numerous money laundering cases involving current and former high-ranking officials of the prosecutor’s office and other judiciary agencies. In light of their personal interests, these officials are now illegally using their levers in the law enforcement and the judicial system in order to pressure and intimidate Veles leader Marina Poghosyan, to prevent her human rights advocacy and the disclosure of the true facts and those responsible.
The organization urges media representatives to be present at the hearing and cover the process, in order to contribute to the transparency and objectivity of the investigation.
Earlier, dozens of local organizations and individuals expressed their support for Veles, calling on all international human rights and anti-corruption structures to closely monitor the criminal prosecution against Marina Poghosyan and take appropriate action.
Armenia’s Helsinki Association for Human Rights, which has been following the case for months, also believes that the charges brought against Poghosyan are false.