Moscow court extends Levon Hayrapetyan house arrest

The court rejected the defense plea for releasing the businessman on bail or probation, citing the need for more time to get familiarized with the case records. The prosecution claimed that Hayrapetyan owns property in Russia, as well as holds dual citizenship: of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia.

“The accused may hide away from the inquest and court. Besides, he has quite a lot of money which he can use to  compromise the proceeding through different campaigns in the press,” he said.

The defense did not accept the arguments, saying that Hayrapetyan did not have a passport to hide away from the proceeding. 

Hayrapetyan is accused of complicity in the illicit sale of Bashneft company’s assets to the joint-stock financial corporation Sistema.