Yesterday the first-instance court of Yerevan Kentron and Nork-Marash communities, represented by judge Pargev Ohanyan, made a verdict to absolve the heads of “Royal Armenia” company. The director (Gagik Hakobyan) and deputy director (Aram Ghazaryan) of the company, who had been under arrest since October, 2005, were set free from the courtroom yesterday. The court also made a decision to bring a case against the head of “FIG” company, Vache Petrosyan, for false testimony. To note, the heads of “Royal Armenia” were accused of not paying customs and tax obligations, but in reality for the fact that they refused to pay bribes to customs officers. For that purpose, the director of that company was demanded in the case to be imprisoned for 12 years, and the deputy chief, for 11. At first glance, it looks like a sensation, since the directors of a private company won their struggle, which lasted almost two years, against the corrupt state system (represented by the customs committee). Notwithstanding, before yesterday almost everyone was sure that the court would satisfy the claim. Thus, we wonder what the reason is for this “liberality” on the part of the court, i.e. the authorities. The answer is very simple: there will be presidential elections in just several months, and the authorities want to help their reputation, which is at “zero” level now. Such pointless actions have only one positive point, which is that they are setting free the innocent people they have arrested.
