On 10 June, the Anti-Corruption Civil Court continued the hearing in the case of confiscation of properties and funds of alleged illicit origin of the former NA deputy Mher Sedrakyan and his family. The Presiding Judge is Karapet Badalyan.

According to Iravaban.net, Varazdat Badalyan, one of Sedrakyan’s representatives, was not present at the session, one of the lawyers mentioned that the reason for his absence was excused.

Addressing the issue of video recording and photo shooting of the session, Aleksan Khachatryan, one of the representatives of the Sedrakyans, objected to them.

He noted that he should explain the position of his clients that is why he objected. “Maybe next time I will not object, Honorable Court. I object to the general session being videotaped.”

According to the Presiding Judge, the party is responsible only for itself. In addition, the representative’s opinion must be comprehensible to the court. Aleksan Khachatryan insisted that he objects to the video recording of the court session at the moment.

The court noted that cases of confiscation of property of illicit origin are of great public importance, the presence of journalists and coverage is very important. “They are important for the pursuit and implementation of the goals that are set at the base of the law, in fact, in the context of the fight against corruption. The participation of journalists in such cases and the publication of information is not an end in itself.”

Karapet Badalyan noted that the mass media representative’s motion is valid and subject to full satisfaction. At the same time, the judge stated that the representative may not give consent for his image to be videotaped. Only Aleksan Khachatryan objected.

Then Hamlet Harutyunyan, Prosecutor of the Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of the Prosecutor General’s Office, informed the court that at the previous session, the motion to change the basis and subject of the lawsuit was presented, and the court should make a decision on it.

The session was adjourned.

The Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of Prosecutor General’s Office filed a request to confiscate property of illicit origin worth about 11 billion AMD. In particular:    

• In the city of Yerevan: 21 real estates, average market value of one real estate, in Kotayk region: one real estate, one vehicle, and in case of impossibility, their average market value, which is more than 2.3 billion AMD in total (some properties have not yet been evaluated) .
• Participation in eight legal entities and the right to claim one loan.
• More than 8.6 billion AMD are also subject to confiscation as the sum of the balance of illicit income and AMD transferred to bona fide third parties, which are not justified by legal income.