As we previously reported, between June and November 2024, four foreign nationals involved in the same criminal proceedings approached our office at different times. The detention imposed on all of them as a preventive measure was replaced with an alternative measure within days of our lawyers taking over their defense. (See here)
In November-December 2024, two more foreign nationals involved in the same criminal proceedings, I.Zh. and A.A., sought our office’s legal representation. They were charged under Article 319, Part 1; Article 257, Part 3, Points 1 and 3; Article 285, Part 2, Points 1 and 3; and Article 296, Part 3, Points 1 and 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. These charges included participation in a criminal organization, large-scale computer fraud committed by a criminal organization, aiding the illegal activities of companies considered legal entities under the instructions of a criminal organization’s leader, and large-scale money laundering carried out by a criminal organization. They had been placed in pretrial detention as a preventive measure.
Days after our office’s lawyer, Andranik Mnatsakanyan, took on the defense of defendants I.Zh. and A.A., they were released from detention thanks to a well-chosen defense strategy, the objective approach of the investigator from the Investigative Committee of Armenia, the supervising prosecutor, and Judge A. Asatryan of the Yerevan First Instance General Jurisdiction Criminal Court.
