Levon Kocharyan: What`s happening around "Strong Armenia" has nothing to do with law and legitimacy

ArmInfo. The events surrounding the Strong Armenia party have nothing to do with law, legitimacy, or democracy. This is how Levon Kocharyan, a member of parliament from the Armenia faction, responded to the detention of Strong Armenia party leader Samvel Karapetyan after NSS officers searched his home and 65 other addresses associated with his family.

"Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev wants Armenia to have its own Constitution, while Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan persecutes and arrests anyone who opposes it. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and the judiciary who commit these atrocities, no matter how hard they try to convince themselves that they are acting according to the law and on orders from their superiors, have in fact become tools of Aliyev." "They themselves, their friends, and relatives will have to live with this realization," Kocharyan wrote on his Facebook page.

As a reminder, Strong Armenia party spokesperson Aghavni Sukiasyan reported that investigators from the Investigative Committee of Armenia have been conducting searches since early this morning at the homes of Strong Armenia bloc leader Samvel Karapetyan and Strong Armenia parliamentary faction leader Narek Karapetyan. She noted that searches are also being conducted at other addresses associated with Karapetyan's family. Later, Investigative Committee spokesperson Kima Avdalyan reported that searches are being conducted simultaneously at 65 addresses. Following the searches, NSS officers detained Samvel Karapetyan and escorted him out the back door of his home. The Investigative Committee of Armenia subsequently announced that Samvel Karapetyan is accused of embezzling loan funds received for the needs of Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC. (ESA). Thirty-five other people were detained along with him.

It should be added that Pashinyan previously stated that if the parliamentary opposition resists the adoption of the new Constitution, the ruling majority will begin to generate public pressure. He also noted that "the authorities can formulate a proposal for the parliamentary opposition regarding the new Constitution that they will be unable to refuse."