Trial of Goris Mayor held at the background of his supporters’ rally

The court has granted the defence's petition and allowed visits of his relatives to Arush Arushanyan, the Mayor of the city of Goris. His supporters held an action at the courthouse demanding his release.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 21, 2020, residents of the Syunik Region blocked the road to prevent the arrival of Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister. On the same day, the Goris Mayor, Arush Arushanyan, was detained; ha had urged townspeople to take part in the action, but the court found his arrest unjustified. On July 7, Arushanyan was again detained within the case of voters' bribing.

The court has lifted the ban on relatives' visits to Arushanyan, but left his phone calls under the ban, and also rejected the demand to transfer him to another penitentiary institution, his advocate, Eric Aleksanyan, has explained.

The court session was held amid a protest action. Arushanyan's supporters demanded to release him. "The Arushanyan's case was fabricated for political reasons … Goris residents had shown their attitude towards Arushanyan at the elections by casting their votes for him," one of the protesters has stated.

By the outcomes of the local elections held in Armenia in October, the Goris city administration was headed by the opposition bloc "Arush Arushanyan", headed by Arushanyan.