The lawmakers -- Armen Charchian, Mkhitar Zakarian and Artur Sargsian -- are facing different charges rejected by them and their Hayastan alliance as politically motivated.
Hayastan has repeatedly demanded their release from custody, citing an article of the Armenian constitution which stipulates that “a deputy may not be deprived of liberty without the consent of the National Assembly.”
Prosecutors and leaders of the parliament’s pro-government majority have said, however, that the opposition lawmakers do not enjoy immunity from prosecution because they were indicted before formally taking up their parliament seats. Hayastan dismissed those claims and appealed to the Constitutional Court in September.
In a ruling made public on Thursday, the court sided with the opposition bloc as well as lawyers representing the arrested men. It ruled that any citizen automatically gains immunity from prosecution after being elected to the National Assembly and cannot be arrested without the parliament’s consent.
Hayastan’s leadership was quick to hail the ruling and demand the immediate release of the lawmakers. Charchian’s lawyer said he is already preparing to petition a court in Yerevan for that purpose.
Charchian, who headed Yerevan’s Izmirlian Medical Center, is prosecuted for allegedly pressuring his subordinates to vote in the June 20 parliamentary elections. He was first arrested three days after the vote.
Charchian was released on bail at the start of his trial a month later. Armenia’s Court of Appeals sent the prominent surgeon back to jail on August 23.
The two other detainees headed major communities in Syunik province. They were among elected local government officials who demanded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation following last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Zakarian and Sargsian were arrested on separate corruption charges shortly after the June elections won by Pashinian’s party.