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Armenian Ex-President's Former Chief Of Security Arrested


Vachagan Ghazarian empties his bag filled with cash after being arrested by the National Security Service in Yerevan on June 25.
Vachagan Ghazarian empties his bag filled with cash after being arrested by the National Security Service in Yerevan on June 25.

YEREVAN -- The former head of the security service of Armenia's ex-President Serzh Sarkisian has been arrested on charges of "illegal enrichment."

A court in Yerevan ruled on June 28 that Vachagan Ghazarian must be held in pretrial detention for two months.

Sarkisian, who had been president for 10 years, moved to the newly powerful post of prime minister in mid-April but stepped down after weeks of peaceful street protests led by opposition leader Nikol Pashinian.

Pashinian was voted in as prime minister of the South Caucasus country on May 8.

Police detained Ghazarian on June 25 when he was leaving a bank in Yerevan with more than $1 million in cash.

On June 27, Armenia's Special Investigative Service charged Ghazarian with illegal enrichment and not declaring properties and large cash sums to tax authorities.

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