Andranik Tevanyan calls extension of his arrest for another two  months illegal

ArmInfo. Mother Armenia Party leader Andranik Tevanyan called the extension of his arrest for another two months illegal.

Tevanyan's statement, released from the pretrial detention center,  stated that Judge G. Abelyan had issued a second ruling illegally  extending his detention for another two months "under the criminal  case illegally brought against me." "The peculiarity of this 'case'  is that, under the terms 'pre-investigation secrecy' and 'state  secret,' my legal team and I are deprived of the opportunity to  disclose its full contents and communicate openly with the public. As  a result, citizen Nikol Pashinyan and his henchmen, violating the  presumption of innocence, call me a 'state traitor' and a 'spy,' and  deprive me of the opportunity to defend myself, my comrade, and  'Mother Armenia,'" Tevanyan stated.

In his words, this is happening at a time when the thief is shouting  the loudest: 'Catch the thief!'-referring to Nikol Pashinyan, who  handed over Artsakh and other territories to Armenia and serves the  Turkish- Azerbaijani agenda by accusing me of treason. "Nikol P.,  through his henchmen, accuses me of being recruited by foreign  intelligence services in 2024 (by the way, they stubbornly refuse to  specify which country they're talking about, or which enemy country I  allegedly worked for). This is a lie; there's no evidence or basis.  They're saying I allegedly passed information about a closed session  of the National Assembly to outsiders in exchange for money. This is  a lie; there's no evidence or basis. It's noteworthy that the  prosecution also acknowledges the lack of compelling evidence for the  charges brought against them, but "justifies" the detention, claiming  they're working to find evidence and grounds for their allegations,"  he stated.

In other words, according to Tevanyan, they're effectively admitting  that the "case" is raw, the evidence is based on assumptions, but  "just in case" and on orders, they detained Aregnaz Manukyan and him,  supposedly to prevent them from obstructing their work or evading the  investigation. "In short, the so- called judicial system received  orders from Nikol P. and is now busy 'framing' the case. It's a lie:  that I was recruited by a foreign intelligence agency. It's a lie:  that I received $622,000 in exchange for transferring classified  information," Tevanyan noted.

As a reminder, on May 21, the Investigative Committee of Armenia  announced the opening of a criminal case against Andranik Tevanyan  for "treason and espionage." Tevanyan is accused of transferring  information containing state secrets to a foreign state for $622,000.  On the night of May 24, Tevanyan was placed under two-month pretrial  detention by court order. Moreover, according to Tevanyan's lawyer,  Aram Orbelyan, there were no legal grounds for his client's detention  at the time. It should be added that the opposition figure's arrest  occurred on the direct orders of current Armenian Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan. Tevanyan himself called the investigation's claims  absurd, noting that he resigned from his parliamentary mandate back  in 2023 and, therefore, such claims by the Investigative Committee  have no basis.