TBILISI, April 16 (Reuters) – Anti-corruption authorities in Armenia detained 14 people connected to a pro-Russian opposition party on Thursday on suspicion of electoral bribery, less than two months ahead of a parliamentary election in the South Caucasus country.
Two other members of the opposition party, called Strong Armenia, were arrested on Tuesday and accused of violating a ban on charity work during the election period.
“This morning, the Anti-Corruption Committee conducted searches at various offices of the Strong Armenia party, and 14 people have been detained. We’ve been trying to determine where these individuals were transferred, under what circumstances, and for what reason,” Yura Dilanyan, a lawyer for the party, was cited as saying by Armenian media on Thursday.
Armenia is set to hold parliamentary elections on June 7, with Strong Armenia polling second behind the ruling Civil Contract party, according to a February survey by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute.
Strong Armenia is led by Armenian-Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who is currently on trial accused of making public calls to overthrow the government. He was arrested last June after he accused the government of waging a campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church and said he would act “in his own way” to stop it. He denies he was trying to overthrow the government and says the case against him is politically-motivated.
It was not immediately clear if all of the 14 people arrested on Thursday were candidates in the June election. A Strong Armenia member identified some of the detained people as “supporters” in a Facebook post.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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