Armenian parliament speaker's sister-in-law released
Ani Gevorgyan, the wife of Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan’s brother Karlen and a former employee of the U.S.-registered company Synergy International Systems, as well as her former colleague Lili Mkryan have been released from pre-trial custody.
They and the Synergy founder were arrested and indicted as part of a corruption probe in Armenia’s Ministry of Economy. Former Deputy Economy Minister Ani Ispiryan and three other employees of the ministry, who are accused of abuse of office, are currently placed under house arrest.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement on Monday that Gevorgyan and Mkryan testified about the circumstances essential to the criminal proceedings and took part in confrontations.
“In view of this, at this stage of the proceedings, the risk of misconduct by the defendants and the likelihood of their unlawful interference in the evidentiary process were significantly reduced. Therefore, the prosecutor instructed the body conducting the proceedings to impose a combined alternative measure of restraint on A.G. and L.M., including bail, ban to leave the country and surety," reads the statement.