Artsakh MP Gegham Stepanyan was banned from leaving Armenia, but the investigator reviewed the decision: Alpha News source

According to Alpha News, Gegham Stepanyan, Artsakh MP from the Democratic Party, was first banned from leaving Armenia, and then, after giving explanations to the Investigative Committee, he was allowed to cross the border.

Gegham Stepanyan tried to go abroad, but he was informed at Zvartnots airport that, according to the investigator’s decision, he was banned from leaving the country. This incident reportedly occurred within the last month.

According to our source, Gegham Stepanyan gave explanations to the Investigative Committee, and only after that did the investigator change the ban as a preventive measure and allow him to leave the country.

We also learned that, as part of the initiated case, there is a travel ban for many members of the Artsakh parliament. However, it is not yet clear within the framework of which proceedings Artsakh MPs are banned from leaving Armenia.

Earlier, the Zhoghovurd newspaper reported that Gegham Stepanyan was banned from leaving the territory of Armenia as part of certain criminal proceedings.

The newspaper also previously reported that Artsakh MPs were invited for interrogation by the Investigative Committee to find out the reasons for the resignation of former Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, who was subsequently illegally detained by Azerbaijan.

In a conversation with Alpha News, Artsakh MP from the Justice faction Metaxe Hakobyan said that besides Gegham Stepanyan, other MPs are also banned from leaving Armenia.

“Gegham Stepanyan had such a problem, but overcoming great difficulties, he managed to cross the border. We can assume that everyone has this problem, and they were very surprised when they first heard about it at the airport,” Metaxe Hakobyan said.

Metaxe Hakobyan herself was not invited for interrogation, but, according to the MP, some of her colleagues were summoned to the Investigative Committee.

“As far as I know, those invited to the Investigative Committee were MPs from the government wing,” Metaxe Hakobyan said.

In a conversation with Alpha News, Aram Harutyunyan, Artsakh MP from Free Homeland-UCA, said that he was not invited for interrogation and that he has no information about other members of the faction. He did not make any attempts to leave Armenia after being displaced from Artsakh, and therefore he does not know whether his travel is banned or not.