Pro-Russian blogger, reporter freed in Armenia
Pro-Russian blogger Mika Badalyan and Sputnik Armenia columnist Ashot Gevorgyan have been released one day after their arrest, lawyers Erik Aleksanyan and Lianna Grigoryan report.
They were among five other persons arrested in the town of Goris in southeastern Syunik Province on suspicion of illegal arms possession and trafficking on Wednesday and Thursday.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on Friday that one of the persons involved in illegal arms trafficking put a package with weapons in the luggage compartment of Gevorgyan's car without informing him about the contents of the package.
The Russian Embassy in Yerevan expressed concern about the arrests of Gevorgyan and Badalyan. “We will take steps to clarify the circumstances of what happened,” it said in a statement.