Opposition MP responds to Pashinyan`s attacks on Tsarukyan`s son and  Artsakh

ArmInfo. Elinar Vardanyan, a parliament member from the "Armenia" bloc, has responded to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements on Artsakh and attacks on Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan and his family during the campaign for the upcoming parliamentary elections on June 7. 

In response to Pashinyan's statements in Syunik that "the  Nagorno-Karabakh movement was the biggest mistake," Vardanyan asked  the Armenian prime minister what he had done for Artsakh. "Did you  even fire a single shot in Artsakh, shed a drop of sweat, invest  anything, or even know where Artsakh is when you declared, 'Artsakh  is Armenia, that's it!' and then thwarted the twenty-five-year  negotiation process, declaring negotiations from your 'ground zero,'  making war inevitable?" Vardanyan wrote in this regard. 

She further pointed out that it was under the current Prime Minister  that a judicial system was established in Armenia which lacks the  trust of the general public. As the MP explained, instead of serving  justice, this system subjects individuals to torture and ruins lives.  The MP also commented on Pashinyan's statement during a campaign  rally in Shengavit, where he declared his intention to "extradite  Gagik Tsarukyan's son from Belarus and hold him accountable."  Vardanyan noted that while the casino incident involving Nver  Tsarukyan must certainly be investigated, she expressed skepticism  regarding the objectivity of any investigation under the current  administration.

"How can there be an objective investigation in a system where you  alone designate the guilty? It does not even matter to you if a  person confesses; you have already selected the culprits regardless,  simply because it concerns you and because it is your will," the  opposition member wrote.

In this regard, she urged a look back at how many individuals over  the past eight years were labeled guilty at the government's request  and how many were actually sentenced. She expressed her conviction  that this is precisely why Armenian citizens distrust the "enslaved"  judicial system today.

"At your command, clergymen are arrested, and recordings are tampered  with to justify 'terrorism' cases  cases also initiated at your  behest. People are detained for merely saying, 'we will fight in our  own way,' and hundreds are taken into custody during protests. You  act as investigator, prosecutor, and judge all at once. Let's not  look too far: you declared the boy's father [Gagik Tsarukyan, leader  of the 'Prosperous Armenia' party, in a voter bribery case - Ed.]  guilty; your investigators fabricated the case; your prosecutor spent  hours lecturing and accusing; and your party issued dozens of smear  statements. You arrested him, and after six years of litigation, your  own court was forced to acquit him because there was, in fact, no  case at all," the opposition member emphasized.

Vardanyan questioned how, in light of all this, the people of Armenia  could possibly believe in a fair trial.  She expressed her conviction  that these actions are driven by Pashinyan's realization that he may  lose the upcoming elections.  "This is why you have lumped everyone  together Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President  Vladimir Putin, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Yet the choice  is obvious: Armenia or the so-called 'Western Azerbaijan'; Lake Sevan  or 'Goycha.' It is you, and you alone, who have forced this choice  upon us," the MP concluded.