On 3 June, the Russian authorities have granted Mihran Poghosyan, the deputy of the Republican party of Armenia (HHK) and former Major-General of Justice and Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer of Armenia, the right of temporary asylum, reported aysor.am.

In 2016 Poghosyan was accused of corruption and embezzlement of public funds by the Armenian Special Investigative Service (SIS). The accusations followed after the publishing of the Panama Papers and the revealing of Poghosyan’s secret offshore assets. Specifically, Poghosyan was accused of hiring his personal bodyguard and driver to different positions in the Service for the Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEJA) after becoming the head of that agency in 2008. According to the SIS, the two men never reported for work but were paid a total of 44.2 million drams ($91,000) in salaries. Further, the state lost another 20 million drams as a result of 32 Chinese-manufactured vehicles which the SMEJA purchased between 2011 and 2016 from a car dealership that was “de facto” controlled by Poghosyan. Poghosyan was also accused of giving privileged treatment to a real estate valuation firm based in Panama, which the SMEJA paid almost 44 million drams between 2014 and 2016. Poghosyan fled to Russia after he was accused.

On 19 April 2019, Poghosyan was arrested in Karelia, Russia. Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s office reported that all the necessary documents were sent to Russia to start the extradition process. On 23 April it became clear that the Russian court followed the petition to arrest Poghosyan for 40 days. A day later Poghosyan’s lawyer declared that his defendant has applied to Russian authorities to get political asylum. His 40-day arrest expired on 2 June. The temporary asylum can be prolonged for a certain period of time before a final decision of the Russian authorities to provide or not provide political asylum to Poghosyan will be made.