The fourth episode brought against former Chairman of the RA Urban Development Committee Vahagn Vermishyan relates to alleged bribe-taking. His defender Alexander Kochubayev told Iravaban.net that the episode involves Razmik Khurshudyan.

A cassation appeal has been filed for this episode as well.

Note that the Court of First Instance imposed imprisonment only for this episode – for a term of 4 years. The Court of Appeal did not change the sentence, maintaining the same 4-year term.

According to case materials, Razmik Khurshudyan visited Vahagn Vermishyan through acquaintances and friends, informing that he had property in Ejmiatsin that needed to be legalized. Besides Razmik Khurshudyan, Vermishyan received numerous citizens at his office every Friday.

“It turned out that Khurshudyan’s issue was related not to the Urban Development Committee but to the community, and the conversation ended there. After that, when intimate relations were formed, Vahagn Vermishyan called Razmik Khurshudyan again, only asking for construction materials, saying ‘transfer the card, I’ll send the money,'” says Kochubayev, emphasizing that it’s absurd to qualify this conversation as a bribe episode.

Vahagn Vermishyan repeatedly stated that he would pay for the concrete himself, and he didn’t need concrete provided free of charge. Note that the Court of First Instance found Vermishyan guilty of this episode as well and sentenced him to a total of 8 years imprisonment overall.

Alexander Kochubayev previously declared in court that obtaining building legalization and giving bribes for it are outside Vermishyan’s functions; moreover, Razmik Khurshudyan did not receive patronage, as there were deficiencies in the documents, they were corrected, after which the new documents were submitted to the Committee.

Vahagn Vermishyan has not pleaded guilty to all episodes of the charges brought against him and has demanded acquittal.

Details in the video.