A parliament deputy who was until recently Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian’s chief bodyguard will go on trial soon on charges of violent assault.
Eduard Babayan was arrested in July hours after a 50-year-old man in Yerevan was hospitalized with serious injuries. The latter claimed to have been beaten up at a compound of Armenia’s National Olympic Committee headed by Tsarukian. He said he was hit by Tsarukian before being repeatedly kicked and punched by Babayan and another person.
Both Tsarukian and Babayan strongly denied the allegation. The burly bodyguard was charged even though his alleged victim later retracted his incriminating testimony.
Babayan was freed on bail in August. He was elected to the Armenian parliament on the BHK ticket in December.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Wednesday that the criminal investigation into the incident has been completed and its findings have been sent to a court in Yerevan.
This means that Babayan will stand trial after all. The accusation brought against him carries a prison term of between three and seven years.
The BHK, which is in opposition to the Armenian government and boasts the second largest group in the parliament, did not immediately react to the development. Tsarukian’s party had defended its decision to nominate Babayan as a candidate in the December parliamentary elections.
Armenian media have repeatedly implicated Tsarukian’s bodyguards -- and Babayan in particular -- in violence, including against opponents of former governments, in the past. The BHK leader, who is also one of the country’s richest men, always denied those claims.
In a police video released in July, Babayan’s alleged victim said that he was attacked after imploring Tsarukian to help ensure that Armenian law-enforcement authorities withdraw an international arrest warrant issued for his son accused of draft evasion.
The young man is a boxer and Russian national who was told to serve in Armenia’s armed forces after receiving Armenian citizenship in order to compete for the South Caucasus country in international tournaments.
Facebook Forum