The questioning of Prosperous Armenia party leader and businessman Gagik Tsarukyan has concluded, after which he left the Investigative Committee of Armenia. The questioning lasted three hours.

Attorney Emin Khachatryan told reporters after leaving the Investigative Committee that the defense team had filed a motion seeking the recusal of the entire investigative team, according to Sputnik Armenia.

Earlier, it became known that attorney Yerem Sargsyan had been removed from the proceedings as Tsarukyan’s defense lawyer. He was summoned to the Investigative Committee on July 22 for questioning as a witness.

“After witnessing the unlawful actions throughout this entire investigation, it would be naïve to expect justice here. At this stage, we must at least place on record both the violations that have occurred and the fact that, by every possible means, Mr. Tsarukyan is being deprived of his constitutional and legal right to effective defense,” Khachatryan said.

He added that although, in his view, the proceedings against Tsarukyan do not constitute a genuine legal process, the defense will continue to pursue the matter through legal channels.

Speaking to reporters, attorney Yerem Sargsyan said the defense had been summoned to continue a face-to-face confrontation procedure, but before it began he was removed from the proceedings as Tsarukyan’s lawyer, Aysor.am reported.

“We arrived after being summoned to continue the confrontation, but our legal system continues to surprise us with new fantasies,” Sargsyan said.

According to him, before the confrontation began, investigators announced that he would no longer be allowed to act as Tsarukyan’s defense attorney.

“They are preventing me from serving as Gagik Tsarukyan’s lawyer because an Iranian citizen testified that I was present at some of his meetings with Tsarukyan. Based on that, they concluded that I might possess information relevant to the case and therefore should be questioned as a witness,” he said.

Sargsyan described the decision as the culmination of unlawful conduct.

“They removed me from the proceedings out of fear because yesterday we completely dismantled the unlawful actions they had taken. Every time I asked the alleged victim questions, they began striking them from the record. I would ask a question, and the investigator would say it was unrelated to the proceedings and remove it. We demonstrated that everything the alleged victim had said was false,” the attorney said.

Beginning early on July 6, officers of the National Security Service, the State Revenue Committee and the Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out simultaneous searches at more than 70 locations, including Tsarukyan’s residence and companies linked to him. Tsarukyan was detained. On July 7, the Court of First Instance of the Avan and Nor Nork administrative districts considered his pre-trial measure, and by the end of the day ordered his detention for two months.