Czech Republic Court Approves Extradition of Fugitive Narek Sargsyan to Armenia

YEREVAN — The Prague City Court in the Czech Republic has allowed Czech law-enforcement authorities to extradite Narek Sargsyan to Armenia. Narek Sargsyan is the nephew of the former president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, the Prague Express reported.

Narek Sargsyan was detained in Prague last December by Interpol officials and the Czech police. During the document check, he introduced himself by the name of Franklin Gonzales and produced a fake Guatemalan passport.

The final decision on extradition is to be taken by the Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic, Maria Benešova, Tyden.cz reported.

The nephew of the ex-president is accused of committing crimes stemming from  points 1, 2 and 7 of the second part of Article 131 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (kidnapping committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy with the use of violence dangerous to life or health, or threats to use violence and for mercenary motives. This crime is punishable by imprisonment for a term of four to eight years), as well as point 1 of part 3 of Article 178 (committing large-scale fraud).

On July 4, 2018 Armenian police searched an apartment, belonging to Narek Sargsyan, discovering stolen paintings, as well as $155,000, 27,000 euros, expensive watches, numerous gold coins and pieces of jewelry.

Manhunt against Narek Sargsyan was announced on July 6, 2018 while starting from July 24 he had been internationally wanted.