The chief bodyguard of Gagik Tsarukian, an influential Armenian businessman and political figure, was released on bail on Tuesday more than one month after being arrested on assault charges.
Eduard Babayan was taken into custody on July 3 hours after a 50-year-old man was hospitalized with serious injuries. The latter claimed to have been beaten up at a compound of Armenia’s National Olympic Committee headed by Tsarukian. He said he was hit by Tsarukian before being repeatedly kicked and punched by Babayan and another person.
Both the tycoon and Babayan strongly denied assaulting the man. The burly bodyguard was prosecuted even though the alleged victim subsequently retracted his incriminating testimony and claimed that he simply stumbled and fell down.
Babayan’s lawyer, Armen Melkonian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that a court in Yerevan agreed to free his client pending investigation after he pledged to post bail worth 20 million drams ($41,500).
Armenian media have repeatedly implicated Tsarukian’s bodyguards and Babayan in particular in violence, including against opponents of the country’s previous governments, in the past. The tycoon always denied those claims.
A political force led by Tsarukian boasts the second largest group in the Armenian parliament. It also has five ministerial portfolios in Armenia’s current government formed in May.
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