Nikol Pashinyan, the currently jailed editor of an opposition daily, was denied the proof of his five-year permanent residence in Armenia, without which the Central Electoral Commission is not entitled to register his candidacy in a parliamentary by-election.

The ground for not confirming the constitutionally required residence qualification was the letter sent by the Head Department of the Armenian Police’s Criminal Investigation Department on November 3, which states that from February 26, 2008 to July 7, 2009 Pashinyan was wanted by authorities and he did not live in Armenia during that period.

Pashinyan’s wife, Anna Hakobyan, told ArmeniaNow that her husband’s authorized representatives turned on Monday (November 9) to the administrative court asking to make the Police provide the necessary certificate.

Pashinyan announced his bid to contest a parliament seat in constituency 10 that remains vacant after another oppositionist Khachatur Sukiasyan resigned his parliamentary mandate in early September.

Pashinyan’s authorized representatives and wife believe this decision is simply absurd, because Pashinyan is currently held in custody and prosecuted on charges of organizing the mass disorder on March 1, 2008. They say that being on a search list of the authorities does not mean at all that he was not residing in Armenia. Besides, there are no entry and exit stamps by border guards in Pashinyan’s passport, and he turned himself in on July 1, 2009.

Lieutenant colonel Norayr Muradkhanyan, Head of the Passport Department at the Police, commented on the discrepancy connected with the dates indicated in the certificate.

“The letter of the Armenian Police Criminal Investigations Head Department states that on February 26 Nikol Pashinyan, registered in Ijevan, was put on the police wanted list in the criminal case investigated at the Investigation Division of the Head Investigation Department of the Center Community of Yerevan, and was removed from it due to his disclosure. The same letter also informed that according to the obtained operative data, soon after the well-known March 1, 2008 events, Pashinyan left Armenia, and he lived at an unknown address before his appearance.”