MPS ASK PUBLIC PROSECUTOR TO LAUNCH PROBE INTO “SECRET RECORDING” SCANDAL
Vote 2013 | 19.12.12 | 11:18
Photolure
Two members of the Armenian National Assembly whose private
conversation was secretly recorded and “leaked” online last weekend
have asked the Prosecutor-General’s Office to start criminal
proceedings in connection with the incident in which they say their
privacy was invaded.
Levon Zurabyan, the parliamentary leader of the opposition Armenian
National Congress, and Armenia’s former foreign minister Vartan
Oskanian, who is currently a lawmaker with the Prosperous Armenia
Party, earlier issued statements decrying the secret recording and
dissemination via YouTube of their politically sensitive conversation
regarding the upcoming presidential election in Armenia that took
place in a Yerevan cafe weeks ago.
The two political forces represented by Zurabyan and Oskanian had been
in talks regarding a single candidate or a possible joint platform
in the February vote.
The National Security Service has denied any hand in the affair,
while Zurabyan insisted that unless those responsible were found and
brought to justice that would mean involvement of special services
in what he suspected to be a KGB-style operation.
Zurabyan further insisted that the public prosecutor should have
launched a probe into the case even on the basis of the audio
material that appeared on the video-sharing website. He said the
Prosecutor-General’s Office must now act following his and Oskanian’s
written applications.