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The Yerevan Criminal Court of Appeals adjourned today the hearing on the appeal of state prosecutors seeking the arrest of Armenia’s former Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of the Security Council Armen Gevorgyan.

The hearing was delayed since Gevorgyan’s lawyer hasn’t received a copy of the appeal filed by the attorney general’s office and hasn’t been able to prepare written objections.

Speaking to reporters, the ex-official reiterated that he denies the charges as ‘groundless’.

Asked whether there was a face-to-face meeting between him and businesswoman Silva Hambartsumyan, Gevorgyan said: “I am in a status which, unfortunately, doesn’t allow me to answer these questions. The time will come, and I will tell everything. I have many things to tell, but it isn’t the right time now,” he said.

Earlier in December a Yerevan first instance court turned down the motion of investigators to put Gevorgyan under pre-trial arrest, with the ruling appealed to a higher court. 

Gevorgyan has been charged with assisting in an ‘overthrow of the constitutional order’ as part of the March 1 criminal probe, corruption and money laundering.

He was already charged in August with obstructing justice during the March 1-2, 2008 events that followed the presidential elections.