Sunday,
Over 100 Tsarukian Backers Detained
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Police detain supporters of Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik
Tsarukian, Yerevan, .
The Armenian police said on Sunday that more than 100 supporters of Gagik
Tsarukian were detained while protesting against apparent criminal proceedings
launched against the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).
The police spokesman, Ashot Aharonian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that they
were taken into custody because of defying police orders outside the National
Security Service (NSS) headquarters in Yerevan.
Hundreds of angry Tsarukian supporters rallied there as NSS officers began
interrogating the BHK leader hours after searching his house. Riot police pushed
the crowd away from the building. They said that the demonstration is illegal,
citing a coronavirus-related state of emergency in Armenia.
Following the search, the NSS issued a statement alleging that BHK activists
handed out vote bribes in the run-up to 2017 parliamentary elections at the
behest of the party’s “leading members.” Another NSS statement accused two
gambling firms controlled by Tsarukian of large-scale fraud.
Tsarukian accused the authorities of political persecution when he addressed the
press before heading to the NSS building.
The BHK’s governing board issued a statement later in the day linking the
crackdown to Tsarukian’s recent demands for the resignation of Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian and his government. It said that the party, which holds the
second largest of seats in the Armenian parliament, will not bow to the “illegal
pressure.”
A smaller number of protesters, among them senior BHK parliamentarians, remained
gathered near the NSS headquarters even after the mass detentions.
One of the lawmakers, Naira Zohrabian, said the authorities may now ask the
National Assembly to lift Tsarukian’s immunity from prosecution and arrest him.
“We are ready for all scenarios,” she told reporters.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, said that he has
dispatched “rapid-reaction teams” to police stations where the BHK backers were
held. He said they will talk to the detainees to and look into the legality of
their arrest.
Armenian Opposition Leader’s Home Searched
Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian (C) emerges from his
villa in Arinj after it was raided by security forces, Jne 14, 2020.
Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK),
accused the Armenian government of persecuting him for political reasons after
security forces raided and searched his home early on Sunday.
Tsarukian was summoned to the National Security Service (NSS) and questioned
there later in the day.
Senior BHK representatives claimed that scores party activists in the country’s
eastern Gegharkunik province were rounded up early in the morning. They said the
authorities linked the security sweep to financial activities of a former BHK
candidate who ran for the Armenian parliament in 2017.
In a statement issued shortly afterwards, the NSS said that “a group of BHK
members” handed out vote bribes during the 2017 parliamentary election campaign.
It said it has conducted “about four dozen searches” as part of the
investigation into the alleged vote buying which it said had been organized by
the party’s “leading members.” The security service did not mention Tsarukian by
name.
In another statement, the NSS accused two gambling firms controlled by Tsarukian
of serious financial irregularities that cost the state more than 29 billion
drams ($60 million) in damage.
Armenai -- Special police forces guard the entrance to Gagik Tsarukian's villa
in Arinj searched by law-enforcement officers, .
Tsarukian, who is one of Armenia’s richest men and leads the country’s largest
parliamentary opposition force, struck a defiant note as he spoke to reporters
at the entrance to his vast villa in Arinj, a village just north of Yerevan.
He vowed to continue to fight for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian and his entire cabinet, again accusing them of mishandling the
coronavirus crisis and mismanaging the economy.
“This is fabricated and political,” said Tsarukian. “They want put pressure on
me, blackmail me.”
The BHK leader arrived at the NSS headquarters in Yerevan early in the
afternoon. More than a hundred of his supporters rallied nearby, chanting
“Tsarukian!” and “Nikol resign!”
Riot police pushed the small crowd away from the NSS building, detaining several
protesters in the process. Senior police officers at the scene said the
gathering is illegal because of the coronavirus-related state of emergency in
Armenia.
The crackdown came more than a week after Tsarukian criticized the Armenian
government in unusually strong terms. The tycoon said Pashinian and his cabinet
must step down because they have failed to contain the coronavirus epidemic and
mitigate its socioeconomic consequences. He also announced that he will try to
rally “healthy” political groups and individuals “concerned about country’s
future.”
Pashinian and his political allies reacted furiously to the unusually harsh
criticism. The prime minister’s spokeswoman, Mane Gevorgian, claimed that
Tsarukian attacked the government because he fears being prosecuted on
corruption, tax evasion and other grave charges. She said the BHK leader should
also be worried about the recent entry into force of a law allowing authorities
to confiscate private assets deemed to have been acquired illegally.
The BHK, which has the second largest group in the Armenian parliament, rejected
the “political blackmail.”
Armenia - Businessman Gagik Tsarukian (L) and protest leader Nikol Pashinian
speak to reporters in Yerevan, 2 May 2018.
In the 2017 parliamentary race Tsarukian’s party was officially in opposition to
then President Serzh Sarkisian. The latter was toppled in the Pashinian-led
“Velvet Revolution” a year later. The BHK voiced support for the revolution
during its final stage, helped Pashinian become prime minister and joined his
first cabinet formed in May 2018.
Pashinian fired his ministers affiliated with BHK in October 2018, accusing
Tsarukian of secretly collaborating with the former regime.
The BHK came in a distant second in the December 2018 parliamentary elections
and won 26 seats in Armenia’s 132-member parliament. Pashinian’s My Step bloc
controls 88 parliament seats.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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