The prosecutors moved to seize them in 2023, invoking a controversial law that allows the nationalization of assets deemed to have been acquired illegally. The Western-backed law enacted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government in 2020 requires former officials as well as their close relatives targeted by the prosecutors to prove the legality of their holdings even if they are not found guilty of corruption or other criminal offenses.
Pashinian has for years portrayed it as a major anti-corruption measure that will help his government recover “wealth stolen from the people.” Armenian opposition figures say, however, that Pashinian has selectively used the law to try to suppress dissent and cement his hold on power. They also maintain that the law violates the presumption of innocence guaranteed by the Armenian constitution.
Sarkisian’s lawyer, Amram Makinian, said his client will appeal against the “illegal and unsubstantiated” ruling handed down by a court of first instance on Monday.
“Mr. President's assets are fully substantiated by legal income,” Makinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The assets include 38 percent shares in an apartment and a parking slot in central Yerevan. It is not clear just how the prosecutors would separate and seize them from the rest of those properties which is understood to be owned by Sarkisian’s daughter. They have not challenged her ownership rights.
The 72-year-old ex-president, who ruled the country from 2008-2018 and leads the opposition Republican Party of Armenia, is also facing corruption charges in four separate cases rejected by him as politically motivated. He was acquitted in another corruption trial that concluded two years ago.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor-General, asset forfeiture cases are also pending against at least 154 other individuals, including former President Robert Kocharian, former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian and other ex-officials. The combined value of their and their relatives’ assets claimed by the law-enforcement agency exceeds $1 billion.
Despite growing media reports that members of Pashinian’s own entourage are enriching themselves or their cronies, no such cases are known to have been brought against any serving government officials, lawmakers or law-enforcement officers. Last year, Pashinian threatened to jail opposition lawmakers that accused him of turning a blind eye to those reports.