Armenian law enforcement has brought new criminal charges against former President Serzh Sargsyan, less than a year after his acquittal in a lengthy corruption trial.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General confirmed that Sargsyan, who now leads a major opposition party, was formally charged in late January with large-scale embezzlement of public property and money laundering. The allegations stem from the 2005 privatization of state-owned land near Yerevan’s Yerablur military cemetery.
At the time of the sale, Sargsyan was serving as Armenia’s defense minister. His lawyer, Amram Makinian, stated that the accusations revolve around claims that he facilitated the privatization of the land at reduced prices.
“These allegations are completely baseless,” Makinian said, arguing that the charges rely on an arbitrary interpretation of civil transactions and an inaccurate valuation of the land. He also noted that the Armenian government had sanctioned the sales and that none of the buyers had ties to Sargsyan.
Eduard Sharmazanov, a senior figure in Sargsyan’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), dismissed the charges as politically motivated, calling them “another fabricated accusation” against the former president.
Sargsyan, who led Armenia from 2008 to 2018, previously stood trial in 2020 over claims that he helped a businessman and longtime associate secure a state procurement contract in 2013. He denied the accusations, calling them politically driven, and was acquitted by a Yerevan court in May 2023. The judge who cleared him was removed from the bench in October, officially due to his handling of another case.
News of the fresh charges comes just days after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Sargsyan and another former president, Robert Kocharyan, of backing opposition candidates in Gyumri’s upcoming municipal election against the ruling Civil Contract party. Pashinyan went so far as to compare those challengers to “rats.”
Continuing his attacks, Pashinyan took to Facebook on Monday with a series of posts targeting Sargsyan and Kocharyan. Opposition figures have pushed back, accusing him of resorting to inflammatory rhetoric in a desperate attempt to prevent his party’s electoral defeat.
