1005 residents of Vank village in Nagorno-Karabakh have addressed a letter to Armenian businessman Levon Hayrapetyan, who is currently in custody, and to the Armenians worldwide, Artsakh Today reports.
The residents of Nagorno-Karabakh do not doubt that the case against Hayrapetyan is framed up and that his arrest is politically charged. "Your arrest is a gauntlet thrown against the Armenians worldwide. We apply to Armenians worldwide, particularly, to the Armenians of Russia to urge the Russian authorities to immediately release Hayrapetyan. Influential Armenians of Russia - Ruben Vardanyan, Samvel Karapetyan, Ara Abrahamyan, Daniel Khachaturov, Sergey and Nikolay Sarkisov - can play an important role in this matter", the address says.
To note, on July 17 the Basman District Court of Moscow chose a 2-month arrest as a measure of restraint for Artsakh businessman Levon Hayrapetyan, Ara Abrahamyan. The court also attached Hayrapetyan's stake in Bashneft (about 300 million rubles). Hayrapetyan is charged under Articles 160 (misappropriation) and 174 (legalization of criminal means) of the Russian Criminal Code. Levon Hayrapetyan's lawyer Igor Komarov said that the definition of the criminal case is not final and that he will try to change the measure of restraint. To remind, the Russian special services have detained one of the richest Armenian businessmen in the world Levon Hayrapetyan on suspicion of being privy to the notorious "Kingisep" criminal group. According to Rosbalt, Hayrapetyan was detained on Tuesday upon arriving in Moscow from his home in Monaco. Shortly the investigators are planning to petition the Basmanny Court to arrest the businessman. They are currently investigating the case of Sergey-Finagin's "Kingisepp" group, which together with Alexander Matusov's "Schelkovo" gang, is believed to have done a number of contract killings first for businessman Georgy Safiyev (killed in the United States) and then for former Senator Igor Izmestyev (who is now in jail for life). And it was Izmestyev who said that Levon Hayrapetyan was privy to some of the killings, particularly, those related to the Bashneft oil company.