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News.am (19 June 2020)

After the trial over the case of arrest of Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan today, Tsarukyan’s attorney Yerem Sargsyan told reporters that they had tried to substantiate the fact that this case is being illegally investigated by the National Security Service.

“According to the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia, a case related to electoral bribe must only be investigated by the Special Investigation Service. Consequently, all further actions of the National Security Service will be unlawful. We also presented serious arguments proving that this is a political process. The documents were found on February 5, 2019. On February 6, during the interview with the specific person, there was a question regarding the documents and that there was an impression that votes were bought from voters, but there was no response, and only after Gagik Tsarukyan’s June 5 statement on 100% change of the government did the authorities recall that there was some fact and that they needed to interview the same person again on June 8,” he said.

The attorney also touched upon the comment that the Prime Minister’s spokesperson posted on her Facebook page after Tsarukyan made his statement.

“Hours after Tsarukyan’s statement, Spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan wrote that the government believes Gagik Tsarukyan is concerned about the course of investigation of several criminal cases, including criminal cases regarding electoral bribes. However, as of that moment, no such criminal case was instituted. This is the first argument that shows that there are political nuances here,” he said.

Gagik Tsarukyan is charged with giving electoral bribes, but he doesn’t accept the charge brought against him and says the case is phony.

On June 16, the National Assembly of Armenia approved the two petitions of Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan to strip Gagik Tsarukyan of parliamentary immunity and deprive him of his liberty.

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