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The decision of the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office not to approve the indictment in the criminal case involving former Armenian Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan and former Deputy Chief of the Parliament Staff Arsen Babayan came as no surprise to Babloyan’s lawyer Yervand Varosyan.

The high-profile criminal case has been returned to the investigator for a further probe to make future criminal and legal assessments more precise, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Tuesday.

“The surprising thing was that criminal case and the charges levelled against Babloyan and Babayan. After all that, no other development can come as a surprise. Anything can happen within the absurd criminal case,” the lawyer told Panorama.am.

According to Varosyan, dropping the criminal charges against the former officials should be the only assessment in the case. 

The criminal case opened by the country’s Special Investigative Service refers to the legality of Hrayr Tovmasyan’s appointment to the post of the Constitutional Court Chairman. According to the investigation, Tovmasyan was appointed as a result of a usurpation of power by a group of officials, including Ara Babloyan and Arsen Babayan.

Both Babloyan and Babayan strongly deny any wrongdoing.