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A ruling of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction to arrest Ara Saghatelyan, a former chief of staff of the National Assembly, for two months will be appealed.

Speaking to Panorama.am, his lawyer, Hakob Yenokyan, said the ruling will be appealed to a higher court within five days.

“As a justification for his arrest, the ruling said Ara Saghatelyan may have an influence on the participants in the trial. But we do not know who those participants are or the possible purpose for such an influence,” the lawyer said.

He said that Saghatelyan had made a transaction from his bank account to legally purchase a VPN service and use it during his professional activity.

"Mr. Saghatelyan is a specialist in the fight against Azerbaijani media attacks. He has fought very effectively and has always emerged victorious. He has purchased a VPN service to manage his content and electronic flows. He is accused of forming a secret group, but he acquired it with his card for professional use. In these conditions, they say that Ara Saghatelyan can influence someone,” the lawyer added.

Saghatelyan was detained by the National Security Service (NSS) late on Friday along with co-founder of Qaryak Media Karen Bekaryan, a manager for International Center on Development of Parliamentarism, Mher Avagyan, and civic activist Aram Sargsyan.

Saghatelyan and Bekaryan have been charged with allegedly provoking racial, religious or ethnic hostility (Article 226 of the Criminal Code), public calls for violence and justifying or propagating violence (Article 226.2) and violation of the rules of publishing or spreading information during the martial law (Article 307.4).  

A Yerevan court ruled to release Karen Bekaryan on Monday, while Mher Avagyan had been released earlier.