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The head of the Goris community of Armenia’s Syunik Province, Arush Arushanyan, will remain under arrest as the Court of Appeals upheld the arrest ruling of a lower court.

Judge Mnatsakan Harutyunyan rejected the defense appeal against Arushanyan’s arrest on Thursday, his lawyer, Erik Aleksanyan, said.

The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to arrest Arushanyan for two months on Jul 16. He has been charged with allegedly offering bribes to two people to get them to vote in favor of opposition Armenia bloc in the June 20 snap parliamentary elections.

“I reaffirm my position expressed during the court hearing: ‘You do not have enough will and enough to make an objective decision in this case, you don’t have the courage to stand against the authorities and make a decision they dislike, therefore I don’t consider it worthy to participate in the hearing presided over by you’,” the lawyer wrote on Facebook.

“Dear friends, we treat this decision with a smile, because in reality the losers are not we, but judge M. Harutyunyan, who will never be like judges A. Azaryan, A. Vardanyan, V. Rshtuni, M. Papoyan and S. Marabyan. Arushanyan will be released anyway, rest assured!” Aleksanyan said.