Former President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, was acquitted on May 31, concluding a four-year-long trial on corruption charges that he consistently claimed were politically motivated.

Sargsyan, who served as Armenia’s president from 2008 to 2018, faced allegations related to a 2013 government tender for subsidized diesel fuel supplies. Prosecutors accused him of favoring his friend and businessman, Barsegh Barseghyan, leading to the selection of Barseghian’s company, Flash, over another competitor offering a lower price. This decision allegedly cost the state over $1 million.

Sargsyan maintained that Flash was the only company meeting the Ministry of Agriculture’s bidding specifications. He and co-defendant Beglarian claimed the charges were part of a political vendetta by Armenia’s current PM Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018 following mass protests that forced Sargsyan to resign.

The Yerevan court of first instance acquitted Sargsyan, a decision that prosecutors vowed to appeal.

Sasun Khachatryan, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia, expressed disbelief at the court’s decision to acquit former President Serzh Sargsyan, stating that they were convinced a crime had occurred. Khachatryan, who previously led Armenia’s Special Investigation Service, responded to a question from RFE/RL Armenian Service regarding his stance on the court’s ruling to clear Sargsyan of corruption charges.

“I headed the agency that sent that criminal case to the court. Therefore, we had the conviction that a crime had taken place, and the person in question committed that crime,” Khachatryan said.