MP: Armenia`s law enforcement system incumbent premier`s tool against  Armenian people and opposition

ArmInfo. The law enforcement system in Armenia has become a tool in the hands of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which is being used against the Armenian  people and the Armenian opposition. Sevak Khachatryan, a member of  parliament from the Armenia faction, stated this to reporters on  August 25 outside the apartment of Levon Kocharyan, son of Armenia's  second president, Robert Kocharyan, where searches are currently  ongoing.

The MP stated that what is happening is nothing less than political  persecution. "Yesterday, the entire Republic witnessed Pashinyan,  speaking from the parliamentary rostrum, directly instruct law  enforcement agencies to initiate criminal cases, intimidate, and  carry out repression against the family and friends of Armenia's  second president, Robert Kocharyan. What's happening this morning is  only proof of that. This is political persecution; any other  assessment would be a mistake," Khachatryan noted.

According to the opposition figure, given the chaos currently  unfolding in the country, anything can be expected from this process.  "Anything can be expected from this government. Because the law is  not functioning in the country today. The law enforcement system has  become a tool in Pashinyan's hands, used against the Armenian people  and the Armenian opposition. In particular, against those opposition  figures who make harsh statements," Khachatryan asserted. Speaking  about whether the parliamentary opposition can take action under  these circumstances, he noted that the Armenia bloc has repeatedly  initiated street struggles over the years aimed at liberating the  country from the current government. "But our bloc alone is unable to  cope with the threats facing the Republic. The support of the  Armenian people and other opposition forces, including  extra-parliamentary ones, is needed. All these arrests are an attempt  to isolate the opposition. After all, when Pashinyan presented the  government's program yesterday, we understood one thing: this is not  a government program, but an obituary for the Republic of Armenia,"  the opposition figure concluded.

This morning, it was reported that security forces had taken second  President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to the Anti-Corruption  Committee. Furthermore, searches have been underway since the early  morning of August 25 at the home of Levon Kocharyan, a member of the  National Assembly of Armenia from the opposition Armenia faction and  the son of second President Robert Kocharyan. It has also become  known that searches are being conducted at dozens of addresses of  companies belonging to the Kocharyan family. The Armenian  Anti-Corruption Committee confirmed the detention of Robert Kocharyan  and his son, Sedrak Kocharyan. Notably, the day before, Armenian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ordered law enforcement agencies to  strip Kocharyan and the third president of the Republic, Serzh  Sargsyan, of their property.