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Eurasia
July 6, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 25
region. These included food aid donated by schoolchildren as conflict in the enclave erupted in 2016, which Grigorian had used to feed animals in his private zoo.
Grigorian has since been stripped of his immunity by the parliament. The investigation has also led to his son — who resigned as mayor of Grigorian’s hometown after the scandal erupted — being charged with theft of vehicles and the detention of Manvel Grigorian’s wife.
“There will be no compromise with corruption,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashninian wrote on his Facebook page after Grigorian’s arrest.
Armenia’s National Security Service moved even closer to the former president’s inner circle on June 25, when it arrested both Sargsyan’s brother,
Aleksandr Sargsyan, and his former security chief Vachagan Ghazaryan.
Aleksandr Sargsyan was detained on suspicion of possessing illegal weapons, but released shortly afterwards when the weapons were declared to be legal, Public Radio of Armenia reported.
Ghazaryan’s detention followed a search of Yans club in Yerevan, which is rumoured to be owned by Ghazaryan, where police found big quanti- ties of cash — $1.1mn, €230,500 and AMD36mn (€64,000), according to local news agency Arka.
Meanwhile, protesters have repeatedly targeted Yerevan mayor Taron Markarian in the past week, following the release of a video by First AntiCor- ruption Television that included drone footage of Markarian’s lavish property, reported RFE/RL.