The court ordered the arrest for two months of Arsena Gevorgyan, the “Strong Armenia” candidate for head of the Stepanavan community.

ArmInfo. The court has remanded Arsեն Gevorgyan, the Strong Armenia candidate for head of the Stepanavan community, in custody for two months, the party’s press service reports.

Earlier, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee reported that 14 people had been detained on charges of giving electoral bribes, aiding in this, as well as accepting bribes. According to the agency, "the bribes were distributed by the candidate heading the list of the Strong Armenia party in the regular elections to the Council of Elders of the enlarged Stepanavan community." In connection with this, criminal proceedings were initiated by the Anti-Corruption Committee.

It should be recalled that Andranik Gevorgyan, a member of the Armenian parliament from the opposition Strong Armenia faction, reported on his Facebook page that mass searches and detentions of supporters of businessman Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia movement had been taking place in Stepanavan since early morning.

The previous day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had suggested that those citizens and candidates for community heads in elections to local self-government bodies (LSGBs) who were being subjected to pressure by the ruling Civil Contract party write to him personally. However, by that evening, he himself began threatening representatives of the opposition forces. Notably, all this is taking place ahead of the elections to local self-government bodies in Stepanavan, which will be held on October 25.

Strong Armenia called the detention of its supporters in Stepanavan political persecution and accused the authorities of abusing law enforcement mechanisms ahead of the elections to local self-government bodies.  «We emphasize once again: this is not democracy. This is a dangerous practice of abusing the law and state structures in order to retain power at any cost, when accusations are made before the facts are established,» the Strong Armenia statement says.

The party also responded to a video circulated several hours after Gevorgyan’s detention, stating that it had been published for political reasons and was intended to mislead the public. Strong Armenia explained that financial resources are used to organize the election campaign, with transparent reports submitted to the electoral commission regarding them. Strong Armenia also compared what was happening to the situation ahead of the elections to the National Assembly of Armenia on June 7, calling the authorities’ actions anti-democratic. The party also accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of artificially interfering in the electoral process. «This practice also indicates that Nikol Pashinyan understands that without artificial interference, he will not be able to win a fair election,» the statement says.

Addressing the residents of Stepanavan, the party described what was happening as an attempt by the authorities to prevent political change in the community.