The Case
Hetq.am's 5 June reporting summarises the Investigative Committee's announcement. The facts the Committee alleges: between 2009 and 2016, unit 59 at Pushkin Street 38/1 in central Yerevan -- 451.1 square metres, market value approximately 208,908,500 dram -- was transferred out of the V. Brusov State Linguistic University into the personal control of a senior figure described as a "high-ranking official." To disguise the transfer, the unit was sold through an intermediary for 75 million dram, well below market.
The seven persons charged: former Education Minister Armen Ashotyan, former Finance Minister and Tax Service chair Gagik Khachatryan, his son Artyom Khachatryan, the University's chair of board V. S., rector G. G., pro-rector A. A., and intermediary H. T. The charges include abuse of office, aiding and abetting, and large-scale money laundering. The arrest decisions are issued to "bring the at-large accused to court."
Who the Principals Are
Armen Ashotyan was Minister of Education and Science from 2009 to 2016 -- the period the Brusov transfer covers -- and subsequently Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party. He was first arrested in June 2023 in a separate embezzlement case and is recognised as a political prisoner by the European People's Party. The 5 June Brusov charge stacks on his existing legal exposure.
Gagik Khachatryan -- known in Armenian political vocabulary as "Super Gagik" -- chaired the State Revenue Committee and later served as Finance Minister under the Sargsyan government. He was at the centre of the 22.4-million-dollar Multi Group bribery case (Sedrak Arustamyan, 2020 charges). Artyom Khachatryan is his son. The combined Khachatryan-family exposure spans tens of millions of dollars across three pending matters.
Why This Case, This Week
The Brusov University asset-stripping case is not new. The 2009-2016 transfer has been on the public record for years and was investigated by previous prosecutorial leadership. The 5 June decision to announce arrest decisions against seven persons simultaneously -- timed to land 48 hours before a parliamentary election -- is the editorial choice of the current prosecutorial leadership.
OWL's reporting across this campaign documented the closing-week pattern: the Ghukasyan constitutional-crimes charge against the Gyumri mayor (5 June), the Beglaryan arrest (5 June), the Armat Media raid (5 June), the Strong Armenia Ajapnyak vote-buying arrests (5 June). The Brusov sweep is the highest-profile arrest cluster in that 24-hour wave -- three named former-Republican-era figures simultaneously.
The Pattern
Voters considering the 7 June ballot are being shown that the executive branch's justice apparatus can, in a 24-hour window, charge a sitting opposition-aligned mayor under constitutional-crimes preparation, re-arrest three former-Republican-era figures over a decade-old asset-transfer case, detain an ex-Yerevan mayor over money laundering, raid a pro-opposition media outlet, and arrest opposition district-level campaign officials over vote-buying allegations.
Each is, on its own face, justified by the prosecution as a substantive criminal matter. Read together, the timing pattern is the political event. The Brusov sweep takes its place in that pattern as the densest single cluster of named-individual arrests of the closing week.
Sources: Hetq.am, 5 June 2026 (Brusov arrest decisions) · Hetq.am, 5 June 2026 (case detail) · OWL Complete Persecution List