Suren Surenyants: "Pashinyan has begun a process of total redistribution of property in the country."

ArmInfo Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has launched a process of total property redistribution in the country. Political scientist Suren Surenyants announced this on June 25 at a press conference in Yerevan organized by members of the Public Committee for the Defense of Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan.

According to him, the authorities have an exceptional opportunity to prove that the opposition is wrong on the issue of political prisoners. "None of us is saying that a person's recognition should be above the law. On the contrary, we proceed from the principle that everyone is equal before the law. That is why my appeal to the authorities is simple: change the preventive measures against political prisoners, conduct a full and objective investigation, and convince us all that what is happening is not a political vendetta, but the administration of justice. "After all, ultimately, justice should result not in reprisals, but in social solidarity," Sureniants emphasized.

According to the political scientist, the experience of 17 countries shows that in cases involving illegal property, the primary goal is achieving social solidarity. This is precisely why, as Sureniants noted, these legal mechanisms include a reconciliation component. "Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated the need to abolish the current legal mechanism that allows defendants in cases involving the confiscation of illegal property to enter into a settlement agreement with the state, retaining up to 25% of their assets. If the preventive measure against Tsarukyan is not changed in the near future, we will be forced to conclude that this was all a matter of neutralizing a specific opposition center." "That is, an attempt by the authorities to create a favorable environment for fulfilling external obligations," the Public Committee member emphasized.

Furthermore, as Sureniants continued, they will also be forced to record that Pashinyan has begun a process of total redistribution of property in the country—not only to enrich his own elite, but also to create new systems to serve his own political agenda. "I prefer to remain optimistic and believe that the authorities have not completely abandoned rationality and will try to prevent a final split in society, as a result of which we could lose the state. Otherwise, we will find ourselves very close to the point where, in order to protect the rights of political prisoners, including Gagik Tsarukyan, their supporters and various groups of the population will be forced to resort to more brutal methods of political struggle," Sureniants concluded.

As a reminder, on July 6, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party and businessman Gagik Tsarukyan were detained and taken to the Investigative Committee of Armenia. He is accused of organizing fraud and legalization (laundering) of funds on an especially large scale. According to investigators, between 2022 and 2024, a group operating under his leadership, under the pretext of developing trade and economic ties between Armenia and Iran, created joint legal entities with the participation of Iranian citizens, after which they implemented a fraudulent scheme, causing damages amounting to more than $21 million. In addition, Gagik Tsarukyan has been charged with illegal hunting. On July 7, the court granted the prosecution's motion to detain Tsarukyan for two months. As part of the case, on July 6, law enforcement agencies conducted searches at more than 70 addresses associated with Tsarukyan. The doors of all businesses were subsequently sealed. Some of them were nationalized by the state. On September 4, the court extended Tsarukyan's arrest for another two months.