Armenian authorities arrested six candidates from the pro-Russian opposition party Strong Armenia one day before the country’s parliamentary election.
The party is linked to Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan and supports maintaining close political and economic ties between Armenia and Russia.
Armenia’s Central Election Commission authorized investigative authorities to begin criminal proceedings involving the six candidates.
At the time of the report, state media and Armenia’s Investigative Committee had not publicly explained the reasons for these six specific arrests.
Separate allegations of vote buying and illegal financing had been made during the campaign against Strong Armenia, but they cannot automatically be treated as the legal basis for the June 6 arrests.