Today.Az » Society » Armenian diplomat appears before U.S. court
25 August 2009 [09:12] - Today.Az
Armenia’s former consul Norair Ghalumian appeared before the court in California, AP reported.
Ghalumian is charged with forging documents which were supposed to help illegal migrants to avoid deportation from the United States. His did not plead guilty, Associated Press reported.
Preliminary hearings were held in federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., on August 24. Four more suspects, whom investigators believe accomplices of Ghalumian, also did not plead guilty.
Norair Ghalumian, who served as consul in Los Angeles from 1999 to 2003, and four other people are accused of obtaining and selling letters to immigrants facing deportation to help block their removal to Armenia, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the defendants sold at least two dozen letters and acted independently of each other. She said officials continue to investigate the letters, which were sold for as much as $35,000 each.
Hearings are scheduled for October 6, 2009.
/Lenta.ru/
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