DEFENSE ATTORNEY SAYS ARZUMANYAN’S CASE WITHOUT LEGAL GROUNDS

Panorama.am
18:58 17/05/2007

"Alik was in good mood," the wife of Alexander Arzumanyan, ex-minister
of foreign affairs, told reporters today. Arzumanyan is charged by
National Security Services for an attempt to legalize fraud money. In
the words of minister’s wife, Mrs. Brown, she is allowed to visit
her husband once in 15 days.

"The case has a political undertext. It is not a criminal case but a
political and human rights problem," she said. Hovik Arsenyan, defense
attorney of Alexander Arzumanyan, also said "there are no legal grounds
for criminal prosecution." Arsenyan listed a number of unanswered
questions, among them if the money found in Arzumanyan’s house was
really "fraud money." The attorney strongly hoped that the arrest
was made in the context of the parliamentary elections and it may be
possible to set Arzumanyan free after successful end of the elections.