YEREVAN -- Wealthy businessman and opposition supporter Khachatur Sukiasian was released from pretrial detention late on September 4, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.
He was detained on September 1 after turning himself in to police officials to face accusations stemming from last year's deadly postelection clashes in Yerevan.
Sona Truzian, the spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General's Office, told RFE/RL that Sukiasian was released after signing a pledge not to leave Yerevan until his trial on charges of helping to organize the "mass disturbances" on March 1, 2008.
Sukiasian, a strong supporter of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian in the presidential election, went into hiding after the protests with other opposition figures to avoid prosecution on charges he calls trumped-up and politically motivated.
Truzian said the Special Investigative Service (SIS), the law-enforcement body investigating the March 1 events, has taken into account the fact that Sukiasian turned himself in "voluntarily."
He was released from a maximum security prison in central Yerevan where he was taken shortly after his surrender.