A lawyer for Gagik Khachatryan, an ex-Chairman of the Armenian State Revenue Committee and former Minister of Finance now under arrest for large-scale embezzlement and abuse of official power, says his client refutes the charges levied against him.

Attorney Yerem Sargsyan stated the same to reporters today after a Yerevan court was to review a motion made by Khachatryan’s defense team to have the defendant released from pre-trial detention.

Gagik Khachatryan was arrested on August 27, after law enforcement agents searched his home.

A freeze has also been placed on Khachatryan’s property. His lawyers have also petitioned the courts to have the freeze removed.

Sargsyan told reporters that Artoush Gabrielyan, the judge who ordered Khachatryan’s arrest, had violated several legal procedures in the process.

The attorney added that Khachatryan’s defense team had written to the justice minister, requesting that Judge Gabrielyan be administratively reprimanded.

  “We all know that when a person is sentenced to detention, the court must be provided with compelling evidence so that the court can make a reasonable guess as to whether the person is related to the charge. The court must confirm this in order to be able to arrest a person. This is justified suspicion,” Yerem Sargsyan told reporters, claiming that the court had no facts in its possession about the Khachatryan’s alleged embezzlement.

Sargsyan noted that judges may be subject to disciplinary liability for clear and gross violations of material and procedural norms.  

"In this case, the gross violation is obvious, because the restricting the right of a person’s liberty is at stake,” Sargsyan said.

The attorney stated that Khachatryan has serious health issues that can only be treated outside of Armenia.