The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) tried to keep Abrahamian in detention pending investigation into alleged money laundering, abuse of power and illegal entrepreneurship attributed to him. However, the court moved him to house arrest on June 14.
Abrahamian’s lawyer, Yerem Sargsian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that his client will now be under so-called “administrative surveillance” involving some restrictions on his freedom of movement. Sargsian said the court made the decision following the completion of the protracted investigation.
Abrahamian was charged with abuse of power and illegal entrepreneurial activity in September 2018 four months after Nikol Pashinian’s rise to power. The charges denied by him stemmed from allegations by a businessman that in 2008 Abrahamian forced him to give up a majority stake in his sand quarry located in the southern Ararat province. Abrahamian was the chief of then President Serzh Sarkisian’s staff at the time.
The ACC added a money laundering charge to the case in 2023. It has yet to explain why it arrested Abrahamian on June 13 nearly seven years after his first indictment.
Earlier in June, Pashinian implicitly alluded to the criminal case in a continuing war of words with his political opponents. Some media commentators speculated that this is the reason why Abrahamian was taken into custody.
Abrahamian, 66, is a native of Ararat who developed extensive business interests there before holding senior state positions in Yerevan. He served as prime minister from 2014-2016. Abrahamian fell out with Sarkisian shortly after his sacking. He has kept a low profile since then.