Four of the five judges investigated in the “bribery for judges” case were suspended from posts. The Superior Council of Magistracy allowed taking legal action against the judges at the request of prosecutor general Eduard Harunjen.

Contacted by IPN, Eduard Harunjen said that besides acts of corruption, the investigated judges will also be charged with interference in the administration of justice and prosecution and with the passing of illegal judgments or sentences. Criminal proceedings over such acts can be brought only with the preliminary consent of the Superior Council of Magistracy, unlike the investigation for acts of corruption.

The fifth judge asked that the matter should be examined in another hearing as he didn’t manage to prepare his defense.

Ten persons, among whom five judges, a prosecutor, a lawyer, a judicial assistant, a doctor and a private individual, were detained on October 23. The judges are suspected of asking for and receiving large sums of money for passing favorable judgments in a number of examined criminal cases. The lawyer and the prosecutor acted as intermediaries in the transfer of the money. The decisions were to be pronounced in favor of the doctor and the private individual.