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Lawyers of Armenia’s former Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan claim that judges are tasked with keeping their client under arrest as long as possible. A statement posted on the Facebook page of attorney Yerem Sargsyan says that Hovsepian's arrest was not a measure of restraint, but a punishment for him.

The former prosecutor general is charged with bribery, money laundering and illegal entrepreneurial activity.

According to the lawyers, Hovsepian's arrest was last extended for two months by the “unlawful” decision of judge Davit Arghamanyan of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction. They have appealed the ruling to a higher court, adding now Court of Appeals judge Armen Danielyan has been tasked to reject it.

The lawyers indicate that those judges were purposefully assigned to Hovsepyan's case in order to keep him behind bars as long as possible.

The lawyers note that earlier they demanded Arghamanyan and Danielyan to present evidence that Hovsepyan's case had been assigned to them legally, in alphabetical order, and not at the request of the court chairman.

“However, the two judges rejected the request, knowing well that the cases were assigned to them in gross violation of the law,” the statement said. The lawyers next filed motions for the self-recusal of judges, but they were also rejected.

The statement says Armen Danielyan set the court hearing of the defense appeal for February 4. However, the defense lawyers announced their intention to boycott it in protest against the arbitrary decisions of the judges.