Armenia: opposition activist detained for trying to bribe chairman of university student council

Avetik Chalabyan, a supporter of the opposition, is suspected of an attempt to bribe the chairman of the student council of the Agrarian University for him to involve 2000 university students in protest actions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since April 25, the Armenian opposition has been holding rallies, marches and motor rallies, demanding not to admit a change of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and resignation of Nikol Pashinyan's government.

According to investigators, Avetik Chalabyan offered one thousand drams (about USD 2.1) for each student; in total 2000 students were supposed to take part in protests; and it was planned to spend 2 million drams (almost USD 4300) for these purposes.

A case has been opened against Chalabyan under Part 3, Article 163, of the Criminal Code of Armenia (coercion, prohibition or bribery to participate in meetings), the Investigating Committee of Armenia reported on May 12.

The case was initiated on the basis of an audio record spread in media on May 9, in which the teacher of the Agrarian University offers the chairman of the student council to involve university students in the protests, the report says.

Avetik Chalabyan said that on May 12, law enforcers searched his apartment, but found nothing. Nevertheless, they insisted that the oppositionist was taken to the police station, the "ArmInfo" reports. Chalabyan stated that the criminal case is absolutely far-fetched and has nothing to do with him.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 13, 2022 at 03:19 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.