YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, ARMENPRESS. A Yerevan court has denied to release ex-finance minister and ex-State Revenue Committee president Gagik Khachatryan from pre-trial detention and extended his jail term for another two months.

“Our bail motion was denied and the motion to extend the detention was approved,” said Yerem Sargsyan, Khachatryan’s lawyer.

“This wasn’t an unexpected decision for us,” he added.

He said they will appeal the ruling.

Khachatryan was arrested and remanded into custody in late August.

He is charged with official misconduct and embezzlement during his tenure as SRC president. His nephew, also a former SRC official, is also under arrest in the same case.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan