Narek Karapetyan: Refusing mandates would lead to authoritarianism

ArmInfo. Narek Karapetyan, a board member of the "Strong Armenia" party, stated on July 9 that he was not formally notified of the criminal case against him, having learned of its existence through media reports.

Regarding allegations concerning a second citizenship, Karapetyan  noted that information received from other states supports his claim  that he does not hold foreign citizenship. He emphasized that, from a  legal standpoint, the various criminal cases initiated against  opposition figures have no impact on the core objectives of "Strong  Armenia."

"In current conditions, there are no grounds for a case against me,"  the oppositionist stated. "However, as we understand, this does not  pose an obstacle for the law enforcement system. The authorities are  expanding their toolkit, but their plans are not coming to fruition."

Karapetyan also dismissed concerns that the opposition would find it  difficult to operate in the new parliament, or that they would face  provocations, physical altercations, or humiliation. He advised  observers to "wait and see who is doing what and why." He noted that  the party is currently deliberating the most effective format for  their parliamentary work, including the distribution of legislative  posts.

"I personally had doubts about whether we should accept our mandates,  but I realized that refusing them would lead to 100%  authoritarianism," Karapetyan stressed. "The parliament would have  become a toy, as has already happened with many other state  structures."

Recall, the Central Election Commission had previously returned a  petition to the Prosecutor General's Office regarding the lifting of  parliamentary immunity for Narek Karapetyan, which had been requested  in order to initiate criminal proceedings against him.