The Preventive Measure Applied to Serzh Sargsyan, The Ban On Not Leaving The Country, Has Been Lifted

The preventive measure applied in the newly initiated criminal proceedings against the third President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, the prohibition on leaving the country has been lifted. This information was reported by the Anti-Corruption Court.
“Since the judge was acting in a substitute capacity, he could not revoke the measure himself. The judge obliged the Prosecutor’s Office to lift the applied preventive measure,” the Court stated.

It should be recalled that the episode concerns a case initiated in 2019 on the basis of testimony provided by the late businessman Mikhail Baghdasarov. Within the framework of this case, Serzh Sargsyan had been banned from leaving the country.

“Public criminal prosecution has been initiated against Serzh Sargsyan on the grounds that during the period from 1998 to 2010, he allegedly demanded and received a particularly large-scale bribe from Russia-based businessman Mikhail Baghdasarov. The bribe allegedly manifested in the transfer to S. Sargsyan of half of the income received in exchange for conducting business activities in the Republic of Armenia under preferential conditions.

The criminal prosecution was initiated under Article 311, Part 4, Clause 2 of the former Criminal Code, which corresponds to Article 435, Part 3, Clause 3 of the current Criminal Code, namely, receiving a bribe in particularly large amount,” the Prosecutor’s Office had previously stated.