The move comes five months after he was charged with abuse of power in connection with the distribution of government-funded housing to Armenian army officers and their families.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General claims that in early 2018 Sargsian illegally ordered a Defense Ministry commission to allocate 26 apartments in Yerevan to military personnel and ministry officials who were not on an official waiting list for those homes.
Sargsian strongly denied that right after being indicted in February. He said that the apartments were given in accordance with rules set by the Armenian government and based on their recipients’ “combat background and merits.” He challenged the current government to release the list of those officers.
Sargsian, who has lived in the United States since 2019, claimed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration ordered his “political persecution” to keep him from returning to Armenia. He also complained that investigators have not tried to question him despite knowing his phone number and e-mail address.
A prosecutor overseeing the case countered at the time that “in the materials of the criminal case there is no information about where he lives now.”
Armenia - Vigen Sargsian, the Republican Party's top election candidate, speaks to reporetrs outside a polling station in Yerevan, December 9, 2018.
Norayr Norikian, a lawyer representing eight other military officers who missed out on free apartments because of the alleged wrongdoing, brushed aside the prosecutor’s claim on Thursday.
“Vigen Sargsian periodically gives interviews, makes comments,” Norikian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Armenian law-enforcement bodies are well aware of his place of residence and, I think, address as well.”
The arrest warrant issued for Sargsian this week means that they have to formally start looking for him. The criminal investigation will be suspended in the meantime.
Sargsian, 48, served as defense minister from 2016-2018 in the administration of President Serzh Sarkisian. The latter was forced to resign in April 2018 amid nationwide protests led by Pashinian. Vigen Sargsian stepped down immediately after Pashinian was elected prime minister in May 2018.
Sargsian topped the list of the former ruling Republican Party’s candidates in snap parliamentary elections held in December 2018. According to their official results, the party narrowly failed to clear a 5 percent vote threshold to enter the Armenian parliament.
The prosecutors indicted Sargsian on February 8 just as the parliament allowed them to bring separate corruption charges against Seyran Ohanian, another former defense minister who now leads the parliamentary group of the main opposition Hayastan alliance.
Prosecutor-General Anna Vardapetian asked the National Assembly to lift Ohanian’s immunity from prosecution on January 20 one day after 15 Armenian soldiers died at their makeshift barracks destroyed by a major fire. Hayastan says that the case against Ohanian is aimed at defusing public anger over the deaths.