Armenian parliament strips opposition leader Tsarukyan of MP's mandate
YEREVAN. Nov 24 (Interfax) - The council of the Armenian parliament has voted to strip Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the country's largest opposition party, Prosperous Armenia, of his mandate as a member of parliament.
The Parliament Council has sent its statement to the Constitutional Court for consideration, Prosperous Armenia lawmaker Naira Zohrabyan told reporters on Tuesday.
"This decision has no justification. We regard it as political persecution. They adopted the decision, saying that Tsarukyan is engaged in entrepreneurship. But they couldn't present any evidence of that, as Tsarukyan is not personally engaged in entrepreneurship, but lets other people manage his business," Zohrabyan said.
On June 16, the Armenian parliament voted to deprive Tsarukyan, the Prosperous Armenia party leader, of parliamentary immunity.
In early June, Tsarukyan, head of the second largest political force in the Armenian parliament (25 out of 132 MPs), said that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government had to resign.
After that, Armenia's National Security Service (NSS) said that a criminal case had been opened against Tsarukyan on suspicion of running an illegal gambling business, which they said entailed damages inflicted to the state in the amount of more than 29 billion drams (more than $60 million). In addition, the NSS said that it had uncovered numerous instances of bribery in the ranks of Prosperous Armenia during the 2017 parliamentary elections.
On September 25, Tsarukyan was arrested, and on October 22, he was released from custody on bail when 100 million drams (about $206,000) were deposited with the court.
On November 13, Tsarukyan was detained on suspicion of organizing mass riots, but the court decided that his detention was unlawful, ruling to release Tsarukyan.
Unrest and protests broke out in Yerevan overnight on November 10 after the Armenian prime minister adopted a joint statement with the Russian and Azerbaijani leaders on a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh and the transfer of several districts in the region to Azerbaijan. People in Armenia view it as an unjustified decision to surrender. The protesters demand that Pashinyan resign.
