A new public criminal prosecution has been launched against Levon (Lyova) Sargsyan, another brother of Armenia’s third president Serzh Sargsyan, the Prosecutor’s Office said, according to Factor.am .

The prosecution was initiated under Article 46-256, Part 3, Point 3 of the Criminal Code, which concerns incitement to embezzle entrusted property.

The Prosecutor’s Office clarified that a preventive measure had already been chosen and a search had been declared against Levon Sargsyan within the framework of another criminal case. Therefore, this issue was not addressed separately in the current proceedings.

Earlier, it was reported that prosecutors had also launched public criminal prosecution against Alexander Sargsyan, another brother of Serzh Sargsyan and a former member of parliament, under the same article of the Criminal Code. Pre-trial detention was ordered for him and he was placed on the wanted list.

Thus, Levon Sargsyan has now also been charged within the framework of the same criminal case.

According to investigators, in the criminal proceedings examined by the Main Department for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of Armenia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Sargsyan is accused of large-scale embezzlement. Authorities say that between 2001 and 2018, he used his influence—stemming from being the brother of Serzh Sargsyan, who served as Armenia’s defense minister from 2000 to 2007—to persuade successive heads of the Military Police Department of the Defense Ministry to embezzle particularly large amounts of state funds entrusted to them.