Vahan Kerobyan: I will certainly achieve acquittal for myself and all  the other defendants whom the law enforcement system forced to repent

ArmInfo. I will certainly achieve acquittal for myself and all the other defendants whom the law enforcement system forced to repent in order to stop criminal prosecution.  Former Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan wrote on his Facebook page in connection with the end of his 4-month house arrest.

Having reported that the investigation of the criminal case is  nearing completion, he noted that his initial position regarding the  fictitiousness of the case and the pursuit of other goals has only  strengthened. "I am looking forward to the moment when it will be  possible to imagine how charges are formed against honest and  incorruptible people, those people whose motivation is real state and  official interest, selfless work for the benefit of Armenia, and not  mass indifference," the former minister said.

Vahan Kerobyan also recalled with pain his former colleague, Deputy  Minister Ani Ispiryan, whose selfless work, according to him, was  awarded such "gratitude" by the government in the case that she moved  to Armenia during the 44-day war.

"I want to express my gratitude to Ani and hope that one day Armenia  will learn to value its sons and daughters who, driven by patriotism,  join from different parts of the world to strengthen their country,"  he emphasized. The former minister said that last week the defense  filed complaints against the illegal decisions of the prosecutor's  office.

Kerobyan also spoke about his achievements while under house arrest.  He called the most important event during this time the birth of his  first granddaughter, who became a source of new love for him.

At the same time, the former Economy Minister noted that he had not  wasted his time and had already read most of the Bible, read and  reread fiction and specialized literature, completed Andrew Ung's  advanced machine learning course at Stanford University, Python  courses at the University of Michigan, absorbed interesting research  related to artificial intelligence and related fields and began to  apply them, immersed himself in psychology, read several books in  this field, and involuntarily also studied criminal law and the work  of the law enforcement system as a whole. "As some friends had  predicted even before my isolation, I will emerge from this trial as  a stronger, more resilient person, enriched with new knowledge,"  Kerobyan noted. He also said that during his time under house arrest,  he received unconditional love and tremendous support from his large  family every day. "Many kind people provided me with such powerful  support that one could only dream of," Kerobyan noted. The former  minister said that he intends to thank everyone for their care, but  this will take some time, since the list of these people is quite  large. It should be noted that Kerobyan, who announced his  resignation on February 14, is accused of abuse and exceeding  official powers in the case of abuses in the Ministry of Economy of  Armenia. According to the investigation, there are eight suspects in  the case, five of whom are high-ranking officials of the Ministry of  Economy, three are representatives of the company that won the  competition to create the "Bank of State Investment Projects" in  2022. Kerobyan does not admit guilt.

On February 16, the Anti-Corruption Court in Yerevan placed him under  house arrest for two months, which was extended for another 2 months.

During a recent press conference of Vahan Kerobyan's defense, it was  announced that at the moment, out of 8 defendants, charges have  already been dropped against 6. The decision to terminate the  criminal prosecution was made due to the fact that these 6 defendants  formally admitted guilt and repented.  However, upon detailed  analysis of the materials, it becomes obvious that the initial  testimonies of the defendants in the case indicate that the latter do  not admit their guilt and claim that they did not commit certain  acts. But in order to free themselves from this story, they agree to  stop the prosecution against themselves on such terms.

When studying the video materials with the testimony, as lawyer  Tigran  Yegoryan  further explained, it was once again confirmed that  these were not interrogations, but rather the recording of desired  facts through the use of various propaganda methods. At the same  time, he drew attention to the fact that all decisions taken by the  investigative bodies indicate that no damage was caused to the state.  "Otherwise, with such a basis as repentance, it would have been  impossible to stop the criminal prosecution. And, therefore, the  question remains open - if no damage was caused, then what is this  case about?,"   Yegoryan  asked. In addition, the case materials do  not contain any facts indicating abuse of power by Vahan Kerobyan,  which is what he was accused of.