The arrest of Gagik Hakobian, the owner of the Royal Armenia Company, caught RA Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian unawares.

Reminder: on October 3 Gagik Hakobian was detained at Zvartnots airport on returning from Spain. Though Armen Harutiunian had officially petitioned the Court of Appeals to review the preventive punishment the court ordered law-enforcement authorities to arrest the businessman.

During the Appellate Court hearings Gagik Hakobian was in Spain for medical treatment. The Court upheld the prosecutor’s petition thus scrapping an arrest. The court dismissed Hakobian’s assurances to return to the country after completing the treatment.

On the whole, the RA Ombudsman is discontent with the level of justice in the country. To the question whether courts are dependent of the authorities Armen Harutiunian said, “People are skeptical about courts. Our citizens do not believe that courts are entitled to administer justice.”