ArmInfo. The head of the opposition faction "Armenia" of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan responded to the ongoing discussions in the National Assembly on the petition submitted by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia Anna Vardapetyan for criminal prosecution against him.
"Violating the requirements of Article 108 of the RA Constitutional Law "Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly" (the procedure for giving consent to initiate criminal prosecution against a deputy or deprivation of his liberty), at the initiative of Nikol Pashinyan, Anna Vardapetyan submitted a petition to the NA to give consent to initiate criminal prosecution against me. According to the current legislation, if the deputy indicated in the petition is absent from the session of the National Assembly at the beginning of the discussion of the issue for an unjustified reason, the issue is considered without his participation. On July 1, I sent a letter to the Chairman of the NA, in which I indicated that I could not attend the extraordinary session of the NA, since I have been undergoing rehabilitation treatment at a rehabilitation center since June 27, and my treatment is ongoing. A certificate from a medical institution was attached to the letter," the former minister noted on his Facebook account.
It is obvious, Seyran Ohanyan continued, that the ruling elite of the Republic of Armenia, being aware of my temporary disability, organized this spectacle against me and my colleagues, pursuing two main goals: to distract public attention from the serious threats they create to the state and, in agreement with the authorities of Azerbaijan, to neutralize all those political, public, military figures, philanthropists and clergy who fight for the sake of Artsakh, Armenia, for the sake of the existence of the Armenian people and their spiritual values.
By the time the issue of criminal prosecution against Artsvik Minasyan was considered, the parliamentary opposition returned to the NA session hall. In particular, the alleged illegal appropriation of a land plot of 10.5 thousand square meters in the Drakhtik community of the Gegharkunik region of Armenia, which was under the jurisdiction of the Sevan National Park, is being discussed. According to the investigation materials, Ohanyan, while serving as the Minister of Defense, illegally took possession of this land and built a mansion on it using state budget funds. Artsvik Minasyan, according to the investigation, did not take any steps to legally assess Ohanyan's actions during his tenure as the Minister of Environment in 2016-2018. Moreover, he allegedly contributed to the concealment of the crime by issuing construction permits to persons associated with Ohanyan and allowing a number of documents to be forged.