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Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has appealed the ruling of the Court of Appeals to release Ara Saghatelyan, a former chief of the Armenian parliament staff. 

Saghatelyan’s lawyer Mihran Poghosyan claims that after the release Saghatelyan has repeatedly criticized the incumbent authorities which became a reason for the appeal.

“It was strange for us as I assure you there are few such substantiated judicial acts as presented by the Court of Appeals. There are many issues concerning this case,” Poghosyan told Aysor.am, adding that they thought the prosecution understood the absurdity of the case.

He said the only thing that changed after Saghatelyan’s release was his criticism of the authorities which resulted in submitting of the appeal by the prosecutor.

The lawyer said the case is absurd simply because over 100 people used the VPN server, which Saghatelyan is accused of using to enter a Fake Facebook account regularly spreading offensive comments about Armenia’s authorities. 

“At the hearing of the Court of Appeals I connected to IP through ProtonVPN program and showed that connecting to this IP has nothing to do with crime,” Poghosyan said, adding that they have got used to such working style of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Saghatelyan has been charged with allegedly provoking racial, religious or ethnic hostility, making public calls for violence and justifying or propagating violence and violating the rules of publishing or spreading information during the martial law through a fake Facebook account opened in the name of a certain “Gagik Soghomonyan”.

The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to arrest Ara Saghatelyan for two months on February 21. Later on March 5, the Court of Appeals presided over by judge Arshak Vardanyan overturned the ruling of the lower court and freed Saghatelyan.