Armenia's CEC declines prosecutorial petition to arrest nephew of Tashir Group owner

YEREVAN. July 22 (Interfax) - The Armenian Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has declined a petition by the Prosecutor General's Office to arrest Narek Karapetyan, one of the leaders of the opposition Strong Armenia party.

"The CEC returned the petition to detain Narek Karapetyan to the Prosecutor General's Office, which means the petition has been declined. The question of imposing arrest or house arrest on Karapetyan is not under consideration now," Karapetyan's lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan, told reporters outside the CEC building.

He said he expected that "an unlawful and absurd charge will soon be brought against Karapetyan and a restrictive measure other than arrest will be applied."

Earlier on Wednesday, the CEC granted a Prosecutor General's Office petition to initiate criminal proceedings against Karapetyan.

Vardevanyan assumed that his client's prosecution would most likely be related to the case in which Alik Aleksanyan, a close associate of Karapetyan and a member of the Strong Armenia board, had been arrested in early June. The Armenian Investigative Committee charged him with applying material incentives for participation in a meeting and legalizing unlawful proceeds on an especially large scale.

Narek Karapetyan is the nephew of Samvel Karapetyan, the Strong Armenia leader and head of Tashir Group, who is currently under house arrest.

Narek Karapetyan obtained his parliamentary mandate on July 21.

According to the final results of the parliamentary elections published on June 14, the Civil Contract party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gained over 49.7% of the vote, enabling it to form a new government singlehandedly. The Strong Armenia alliance led by Samvel Karapetyan gained around 23.3% of the vote, and former President Robert Kocharyan's Armenia alliance over 9.9%.