"Zhoghovurd": The Constitutional Court is against the election of Davit Ghazinyan. The Prosecutor General may come to the National Assembly "after" him

The Zhoghovurd daily writes: “According to the information of the Zhoghovurd daily, the issue of electing Davit Ghazinyan, a deputy from the Strong Armenia faction, to the position of Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, was hotly discussed in the ruling “Civil Contract” faction the day before yesterday.

According to our government sources, at the initial stage there was no position against Ghazinyan’s candidacy among the government deputies, but the situation has changed in recent days.

According to the exclusive information of the Zhoghovurd daily, the discussions within the ruling faction around Ghazinyan’s candidacy became especially heated after the tough conversation between him and the Deputy Speaker of the NA Vahagn Aleksanyan. During the discussions, according to our government sources, Ghazinyan’s behavior and the ongoing criminal case against him were also discussed.

According to the “Zhoghovurd” daily, it was discussed within the authorities that if Ghazinyan is elected to the post of chairman of the commission, the course of his criminal case could create political and organizational problems, including if the court again considers the issue of applying a stricter preventive measure to him. According to our government sources, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia may come to the National Assembly “after” him.

Let us recall that the criminal proceedings against Davit Ghazinyan are related to the preparation of alleged electoral bribery during the 2026 parliamentary elections. According to the Anti-Corruption Committee, Ghazinyan and a number of other individuals prepared to give voters an electoral bribe on the condition that they vote for the “Strong Armenia” bloc. According to the preliminary investigation, Ghazinyan transferred 1 million 400 thousand drams to A.S. for the purpose of giving an electoral bribe, but the planned operation was not completed.

It was within the framework of this case that on June 17, the CEC granted the Prosecutor’s Office’s motions to initiate criminal prosecution against Ghazinyan and to grant consent to his deprivation of liberty. On the same day, he was stripped of his immunity, and on June 18, the Anti-Corruption Court ruled to detain him for two months.

Ghazinyan did not accept the charges. His defense stated that it would appeal the detention decision, and Ghazinyan’s lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan, considered the authorities’ actions in the case to have a political connotation.

However, the case did not stop later: on July 21, the Prosecutor’s Office sent the criminal proceedings materials to the Anti-Corruption Court with the approved indictment.

The first court hearing in the case took place on July 24. The Prosecutor’s Office had requested that Ghazinyan’s detention be replaced with a bail of 1 billion drams, combined with administrative supervision and a ban on absence.

Thus, against the backdrop of discussions within the government regarding Ghazinyan's candidacy, it is noteworthy that the Strong Armenia MP remains an accused person in criminal proceedings, and the case is already in court.

According to sources in Zhoghovurd, this very circumstance has become one of the main arguments for a section of the government faction not to elect Ghazinyan as chairman of the commission.