Prosperous Armenia leader accuses authorities of terrorizing their opponents

YEREVAN, June 15. /ARKA/. Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), who was questioned by the National Security Service (NSS) for about nine hours on June 14 following a raid and search of his home by NSS officers, thanked in a statement today all those who rallied yesterday in front of NSS premises against his summoning to NSS, saying the move showed that "there cannot be a government of one person" in the country

The NSS accused Tsarukyan in a string of economic crimes and vote buying in three subsequent statements issued after his detention

“I am grateful to those who have never been my supporters, my voters, who may have been my opponents, but, seeing the prevailing injustice and the primitive political order in what happened, did not keep silence and expressed their indignation. What happened is really very ugly being what is called fabrication of criminal cases on political order, " Tsarukyan’s statement posted on his Facebook page says.

According to him, the answer to the question of why the government took such a step is very simple.

“Because of the coronavirus an extremely difficult situation has arisen. There is a health crisis, whose terrible consequences our population will continue to feel. The government is responsible for tens of thousands of patients with coronavirus and hundreds of deaths because of not taking the pandemic seriously. Even at this moment, the government does not have a clear strategy and does not imagine the whole depth of the problem," he said.

According to the statement, social tension is growing day by day, thousands of people are left alone with the virus, hundreds of thousands are faced with economic difficulties, and discontent in the country is growing.

"And what is the government doing? Instead of solving problems, instead of doing difficult, but real work, it is terrorizing its opponents," he stressed.

Tsarukyan says the law enforcement bodies initiated criminal cases against his firms after his 'famous' speech in which he called for replacing the government by 100%.

“Honestly, I expected it to happen. But at heart I had a faint hope that the government would perceive the problems that I voiced in my speech as a signal, as a warning from a person who is well aware of the economic situation in the country, and would admit its obvious mistakes and try to find a solution by joining all forces," he said.

Expressing gratitude for all the messages of support voiced by political and public circles, Tsarukyan said that this was not his private problem, but "our common choice."

"The choice is obvious: either to get down to solution of the country's problems by joint efforts, or to take the path of terrorizing those who talk about these problems. I have already made my choice. Judging by the events, many made the same choice. I am ready for any scenario," he emphasized. Tsarukyan urged citizens not to become depressed, and not to despair.

“Everything will be fine; we will overcome this crisis, even if the authorities and Nikol Pashinyan personally do everything to make the situation worse. Today I have only one desire. I want our country to get out of this situation, and this government is not able to do this. Our country must finally calm down, " he said, urging citizens to maintain confidence and will, and to comply with all anti-epidemic rules.

A senior member of BHK Naira Zohrabyan claimed earlier today that a political decision had already been made to deprive Gagik Tsarukyan of parliamentary immunity.

Gor Abrahamyan, an advisor to the Prosecutor General, retaliated by saying such decisions are made exclusively within the framework of criminal proceedings, based on whether the evidence collected during the investigation is viewed by the prosecutor general sufficient or insufficient to support a petition to deprive an MP of his/her immunity.-0-