ArmInfo.The rules have been violated, an exceptional situation has developed in the parliament of the 8th convocation, said Armen Rustamyan, a member of the opposition "Hayastan" bloc ("Armenia", Ed. note), even before the registration of parliamentarians at the first session of the National Assembly.
To this day, the mayors of the cities of Syunik region - former mayor of Meghri Mkhitar Zakaryan and former head of the Sisian community Artur Sargsyan, who are MPs from the opposition "Hayastan" bloc, are under arrest. Earlier, the head of the CEC Tigran Mukuchyan said that being under arrest is not an obstacle to getting a parliamentary mandate.
As Armen Rustamyan pointed out, there was no such thing that the parliament of a new convocation began its work, and in the meantime, two MPs were under arrest. "They are deprived of their freedom and not of their own free will cannot participate in the work of the National Assembly session and fulfill their duties, and if we think that we can pretend that nothing happened and we calmly proceed to discuss the agenda, then we will not come to anything good ", he said. Aram Vardevanyan, formerly a lawyer and now a MP from the "Hayastan" bloc, noted that one cannot arrest a NA member without a decision of the legislative body.
MP from the Civil Contract Party Vladimir Vardanyan, in turn, noted that he is familiar with the legislative field regulating the activities of the National Assembly. According to Vardanyan, there is nothing illegal, since the decision to arrest was made before receiving the mandate and with the approval of the CEC.
MP from the "Hayastan" bloc Artsvik Minasyan suggested his colleagues from the ruling Civil Contract party to join the collection of signatures, demanding the release of the arrested colleagues, or to leave for a 20-minute break in order to return Mkhitar Zakaryan and Artur Sargsyan to parliament. MPs from the "I Have Honor" bloc joined the demand. The ruling Civil Contract party did not support the proposal.
The presiding the Knyaz Hasanov unsuccessfully tried several times to continue the session. In response, the opposition began to knock on the table with their hands.
As a result, Artsvik Minasyan suggested leaving for a 20-minute break, to which Hasanov agreed.