Armenian Parliament Votes to Arrest Well-known Oligarch

The Armenian parliament has voted to arrest one of the richest men of the country, oligarch-lawmaker Gagik Tsarukyan.

The Armenian National Assembly voted to remove the parliamentary immunity of the leader of the second-biggest faction “of the parliament Prosperous Armenia” (Bargavach Hayastan), oligarch-billionaire Gagik Tsarukyan.

The Prosecutor-General of Armenia, during his speech in Parliament, announced that Tsarukyan had created and led an organized group that bought more than 17,000 votes for his “Tsarukyan Alliance” during the parliamentary elections in 2017.

Earlier, it was stated that the National Security Service had collected evidence, testimonies and documents proving the allegations.

Tsarukyan is also accused of financial irregularities which cost the state more than 29 billion drams (60 million USD).

Tsarukyan and his party, however, call these charges politically motivated, as they came shortly after Tsarukyan used the occasion of the coronavirus epidemic and Pashinyan’s illness to call for consolidation and overthrow Pashinyan’s government, which came to power as a result of the Armenian Velvet Revolution led by Pashinyan in 2018 April.

Pashinyan’s press-secretary Mane Gevorgyan announced the same day that by his anti-government statements, Tsarukyan is trying to politicize the allegations against him which were ongoing in the National Security Service.

The anti-government calls of Tsarukyan were greeted by former ruling Republican party representatives who lost their power as a result of the revolution, as well as by the supporters of the former president Robert Kocharyan who is currently under arrest on charges of overthrowing the constitutional order of the country in 2008 March during the bloody crackdown of the peaceful protest.

After the statements about anti-government consolidation, many political experts in Armenia started to speak about the possibility of a coup. It was spoken, that the Russian based Armenian oligarchs who are under the strong influence of the Kremlin would also support the anti-government moves of Tsarukyan.

However, Pashinyan quickly announced he had recovered from coronavirus and immediately the same day changed the heads of the Police and the National Security Service of Armenia and stated that Armenia is in a war with the coronavirus, and the forces who use the moment to overthrow the government as treason and said this forces will be thrown to the history dump.

Tsarukyan, supported Pashinyan’s revolution when it was already evident, that the revolution has almost succeeded and moment by moment it was expected Serzh Sargsyan would resign from his post.

Tsarukyan, also had tense relations with Serzh Sargsyan and in 2014 Tsarukyan joined his efforts with the leading opposition forces of Armenia and demanded the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan, but was sharply criticized by Sargsyan, who blamed Tsarukyan in crimes and not paying taxes and announced he will destroy and remove Tsarukyan from politics.  Shortly after Sargsyan’s statements, Tsarukyan announced after his decision to leave politics. These statements coincided with the moment when the law enforcement services started investigation in his companies.

In 2017, Tsarukyan again returned to politics but not as opposition but loyal to Serzh Sargsyan’s regime.

During the parliamentary listings today, the vehicles of Tsarukyan-owned companies blocked some of the roads of Yerevan, a method, which worked well during the  Velvet Revolution and was one of the main success tactics of Pashinyan’s  Velvet revolution in Armenia, but shortly residents of the city joined their forces with the law enforcers to unblock the streets.

Because of the tense situation with coronavirus in Armenia the regime of the State of Emergency is ongoing and according to the regulations of the State of Emergency all the gatherings in the country are illegal; however, Tsarukyan’s party gathered a few hundred of his supporters in front of the Parliament and the National Security Service headquarters. Some of the supporters were taken to police stations and later released after being fined with administrative penalties.

By Karen Tovmasyan

Yerevan, Armenia