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The lawyers of political prisoner Ara Saghatelyan, a former chief of staff of the National Assembly, have applied to Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan, Pastinfo said, citing his lawyer, Hakob Yenokyan.

The lawyer said that they applied to the ombudsman on the day of Saghatelyan's arrest, drawing his attention to the illegal process. Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office have visited Ara Saghatelyan in custody, he added.

The National Security Service (NSS) searched the offices of Ara Saghatelyan, Qaryak Media co-founder Karen Bekaryan, as well as expert on Azerbaijan Anzhela Elibegova and constitutionalist Gohar Meloyan on February 19, seizing their phones and computers and detaining them.

Elibegova and Meloyan were set free later, while Karen Bekaryan, Ara Saghatelyan, citizens Mher Avagyan and Aram Sargsyan were arrested.

Mher Avagyan and Karen Bekaryan were released on Sunday and Monday, respectively, in accordance with court rulings, while a two-month pre-trial arrest was imposed on Ara Saghatelyan.

Saghatelyan and Bekaryan have been charged with allegedly inciting racial, religious or ethnic hostility (Article 226 of the Criminal Code), public calls for violence and justifying or propagating violence (Article 226.2) and violation of the rules of publishing or spreading information during the martial law (Article 307.4).

Incidentally, Saghatelyan has played an active role in the information war against Azerbaijan for many years, making the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan available to the international media.

Many experts have labeled the case against him as “political persecution”, considering him a political prisoner.