A rally in support of the arrested representatives of Mother Armenia was held outside the Supreme Court building.

ArmInfo. A rally in support of the arrested leader of the Mother Armenia party, Andranik Tevanyan, and board member of the political party, Aregnaz Manukyan, was held near the building of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Representatives and supporters of the party came to the rally with posters reading "Freedom for Andranik Tevanyan" and "Freedom for Aregnaz Manukyan."

According to Manuk Sukiasyan, head of the Mother Armenia faction in the Yerevan Council of Elders, they have two demands: to hold an open court hearing and to change the preventive measure for Tevanyan and Manukyan to one that does not involve imprisonment or to cancel it altogether. "Neither Tevanyan nor Manukyan avoided this falsified case during the preliminary investigation," the leader of the Mother Armenia party, "He personally appeared before the Investigative Committee of Armenia. We demand that the Supreme Judicial Council find the strength and, while remaining true to the law, issue a statement that will reflect that this case is political, as well as geopolitical," Sukiasyan stated, recalling that the trial against the party representatives begins on September 8.

It should be noted that during the protest, no one from the Supreme Judicial Council came down to the crowd. Moreover, police forces were deployed to the building. Sukiasyan expressed outrage at this reaction, stating that "today they are in this building, and tomorrow they could be on the street." "Shame on the Supreme Judicial Council!" the protesters began chanting afterward.

As a reminder, on May 21, the Investigative Committee of Armenia (IC) 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. The opposition figure's arrest was also based 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 are groundless. And already on July 9, Aregnaz Manukyan, a member of the political council of the Mother Armenia party and former member of the Armenian parliament, was detained and then placed under two-month arrest. According to the Investigative Committee, a public criminal prosecution has been instituted against Aregnaz Manukyan under Part 1 of Article 427 of the Criminal Code (disclosure of information containing a state secret). The investigative actions were carried out as part of a criminal case on espionage and treason, in which the leader of the Mother Armenia party, Andranik Tevanyan, was previously arrested. Manukyan is suspected of passing classified information regarding the Armenian Armed Forces to Tevanyan, which was presented at a closed meeting in parliament.

On August 18, the investigation into the case was completed, and the materials were sent to court. However, both Tevanyan and Manukyan remain in pretrial detention. The criminal case has been assigned to Judge John Hayrapetyan of the Yerevan Criminal Court.