“Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan are responsible for the seizure of power in Armenia and should stand before the court,” said Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan during the “My Step” alliance’s election campaign gathering in Davitashen for the upcoming Yerevan City Council elections, referring to the secretly recorded phone call between the heads of the NSS and SIS.
He noted that regardless of his command to raid oligarchs and their security guards, the atmosphere of love and solidarity should dominate in Armenia. According to him, there are a maximum of 150 people in Armenia who are outside of that atmosphere. The Armenian people are smiling and united more than ever and they will continue to smile and to win: “The color white won in Armenia and the defeat of the black forces is irreversible. The black forces are defeated in Armenia and they will never stand on their feet again.”
Pashinyan recalled his press conference during which he said that he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to compromise with corruption and illegitimacy. He hinted that it has happened. Armenian PM announced that he does not fight against corrupt politicians: “We are not fighting against you, we are fighting for legitimacy.”
Referring to the secretly recorded phone conversation, Nikol Pashinyan said: “Have I ever expressed my stance on arresting anyone? I have expressed it when I appointed the head of NSS, when I nominated a candidate for the head of SIS, and when I nominated a candidate to be the president of the Investigative Committee. I told them that if they promise to work in a full capacity, to establish legitimacy in Armenia, to overcome corruption, to return what was stolen, to work on uncovering March 1st and other cases, I promise that they will not have any political obstacle in detaining or arresting anyone. I demanded one thing – not to politicize criminal investigations. They should be based on law and legitimacy.”
Pashinyan added that after that, he was asked whether they really can arrest the person if they have evidence, and he answered that if have basis as an objective investigator, they should arrest the individual: “I am neither Robert Kocharyan nor Serzh Sargsyan to hide behind the investigators.”
Referring to the events of March 1st, Nikol Pashinyan said that the second president of the country, Robert Kocharyan, declared a state of emergency on February 23rd, not March 1st, which has been proven. They have the necessary facts. According to him, Kocharyan withdrew troops from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and brought them to occupy his own nation. He added that there were no soldiers to replace those who were in the entrenchments and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border had remained unprotected for 14 days.
According to him, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan are responsible for the seizure of power and robbery: “Robert Kocharyan says that he will ask where is Sashik’s 50%. I am telling you where it is: Serzh Sargsyan’s brother Sashik Sargsyan keeps 30 million in one of the Armenian banks. The family of Robert Kocharyan has billions of dollars and the Congress hotel belongs to Kocharyan’s son and daughter. Don’t try to blackmail us. Collect your stolen money and voluntarily return it to the people. Then we will discuss on Republic Square whether we will forgive you or not. If you don’t do that, you will have a big problem and nobody will help you. Don’t you dare declare war to your own people, as you will be crushed in that war. I demand Sashik Sargsyan to publicly commit to returning the 30 million to the state budget. I know they will say that this is a dictatorship. We will not let you make fun of people, whoever you are, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan.”