Nikol Pashinyan and other Armenian opposition MPs arrestedApril 22, 2018 - 16:41 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Within the criminal case investigated by the Special Investigative Service of Armenia, members of parliament Nikol Pashinyan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Sasoun Mikaelyan were arrested. The official announcement was made by the press service of General Prosecutor's Office. According to the announcement, the MPs were arrested with the immediate suspicion of organizing and holding deliberate demonstrations in violation of the procedure prescribed by law. The announcement also stated that during the demonstrations being held since April 13, Pashinyan, Mirzoyan and Mikaelyan “periodically urged the participants of the protests and other people to block the streets in the city and entrances of government buildings, intrude the mentioned buildings including areas subject to special security, disturb their operation which was implemented by the participants.” According to Armenian legislation, criminal prosecution can be instigated towards a MP only with agreement of parliament. Without this agreement, a MP cannot be arrested unless he was captured in the place of a crime or immediately after the crime. In this case the arrest cannot take longer than 72 hours. The president of the parliament is immediately informed about the arrest of a MP. According to the announcement, the participants of the demonstrations also “used violence against police and other people causing limitation of the rights and freedom of others.” According to the procedure described in the legislation, the president of the parliament was immediately informed about the arrest of the MPs. On April 22, a short meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and Nikol Pashinyan took place. During the meeting Pashinyan stated that only the question of Sargsyan’s resignation can be discussed. Sargsyan answered that Pashinyan does not realize the amount of responsibility and had not learnt lessons from the events of March 1. As an answer to that Pashinyan stated that the situation in the country is not as it was 15 days ago and announced that people has the power now. “A party which received 7-8% votes from the people has no right to talk. If you don’t want to follow the legal requirement of the government then goodbye”, answered Sargsyan and left. Top stories The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Yerevan City Council has elected Tigran Avniyan from the ruling Civil Contract as the mayor of the Armenian capital. The Armenian Parliament on Tuesday, October 3 voted to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Partner news | European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 PACE wants concessions from Azerbaijan to accept Baku back A PACE co-rapporteur said that Azerbaijani authorities must make certain concessions so that the country can return to PACE. Cyprus parliament honors Armenian genocide victims Acting House President Zacharias Koulias noted that April 24 marks the “black anniversary” of the Armenian genocide. Azerbaijan razes historic Armenian church to ground Azerbaijan has demolished the historic Armenian Church of St. John the Baptist (known as Kanach Zham). |