Armenia’s Investigative Committee opens criminal case against opposition leader

TASS, Russia
March 3 2021
A criminal case has been opened for public calls for forcible seizure of power

YEREVAN, March 3. /TASS/. Armenia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against the opposition’s leader Vazgen Manukyan for public calls for forcible seizure of power, the IC’s press-service told TASS.

"During rallies in Freedom Square on February 12 and 20, 2021 Vazgen Manukyan made public calls for the seizure of power and forcible change of the constitutional system. In this connection, a decision was made to indict Manukyan under article 301 of Armenia’s Criminal Code," the press-service said.

Manukyan is obliged to report to the office Investigative Committee on Thursday. He will be notified of the decision to indict him on criminal charges and questioned. He may face a prison term of up to three years.

The spokesman for the party Dashnaktsutyun, Gegam Manukyan, told a rally earlier on Wednesday criminal proceedings had been launched against Vazgen Manukyan.

In different years Manukyan led the Cabinet of Ministers and held the position of Armenia’s defense minister. Amid the political crisis in Armenia, which has been developing since last November, the oppositional Movement for the Salvation of the Motherland, incorporating a dozen political parties, nominated Manukyan its candidate for the prime minister’s seat for forming a provisional government in case the current head of government, Nikol Pashinyan, resigns.

Demonstrations in support of the demand for Pashinyan’s resignation began in Armenia in November last year after the opposition blamed him for the conditions on which he had signed a joint statement with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia on the cessation of hostilities in the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The political crisis flared up with renewed force when on February 25 the chief of Armenia’s General Staff, Onik Gasparyan, and top brass urged his resignation. Pashinyan slammed this statement as a military coup attempt. He has twice asked President Armen Sarkisyan to dismiss the chief of the General Staff. Gasparyan’s resignation will take effect automatically without being signed by the president, if the latter fails to take the case to the Constitutional Court by March 3. Sarkisyan has not said yet what decision he will take. He has been holding prolonged consultations with various political forces all along.