Lawyer asks court to drop criminal charges against ex-Armenian parliament speaker
Aram Vardevanyan, one of the lawyers of former Armenian National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan, on Thursday filed a motion to the Yerevan court to drop criminal charges against his client.
“We are asking for the criminal proceedings launched against Ara Babloyan under Article 308.2 and Article 314.1 of the Criminal Code be halted,” the lawyer said, stressing the actions ascribed to Babloyan do not entail any legal consequences.
Babloyan and other defense lawyers also joined the petition.
Ara Babloyan has been charged with usurpation of power and official forgery as part of a criminal investigation into Hrayr Tovmasyan’s appointment as chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court in 2018.
Charges have also been levelled against Arsen Babayan, the former deputy chief of the Armenian parliament staff, as part of the same criminal case.
Both Babloyan and Babayan strongly deny any wrongdoing.