Opposition MP demands soonest consideration of motion by RA  Prosecutor General`s Office 

ArmInfo.  Artsvik Minasyan, a  member of the National Assembly of Armenia from the opposition faction "Armenia", raised the issue of the criminal case brought  against him at a plenary session of the parliament.

The member of parliament, in particular, asked the speaker of the  National Assembly Alen Simonyan why the question of the Prosecutor  General's Office's petition for the RA National Assembly to give  consent to bring a criminal case against him was left until the end.  "Why didn't you include the issue of discussing my case at the very  beginning?" the oppositionist asked.

In response, Simonyan noted that he had received a letter from  another member of the National Assembly, Seyran Ohanyan, against whom  a criminal case had also been brought, stating that he would not be  able to participate in the first day of the National Assembly session  for a valid reason. "And we cannot discuss the issue without his  participation. The issue will be discussed when Seyran Ohanyan takes  part in the meeting," the NA Chairman emphasized. In response,  Artsvik Minasyan noted that he was not raising Seyran Ohanyan's  issue, but a petition that was directed against him. "My appeal to  you is to raise the issue for discussion as soon as possible so that  everyone can once again be convinced of political persecution," the  politician noted.

The case against the opposition MPs concerns the alleged illegal  appropriation of a 10.5 thousand square meter plot of land in the  Drakhtik community of the Gegharkunik region, which was under the  jurisdiction of the Sevan National Park. The investigation believes  that Seyran Ohanyan, while serving as Minister of Defense, illegally  took possession of this plot of land and built a mansion on it using  budget funds.  According to the investigation, Artsvik Minasyan,  during his tenure as Minister of Nature Protection in 2016-2018, did  not take any steps to legally assess Ohanyan's actions. Moreover, he  is alleged to have contributed to the concealment of the crime by  issuing a development permit to individuals associated with Ohanyan  and allowing a number of documents to be forged.