During the October 21 session of the National Assembly, Kristine Vardanyan, an MP from the opposition “Armenia” faction, accused the authorities of systematically targeting elected opposition mayors, ignoring the will of the people.
“Name a single opposition mayor who was elected and hasn’t been pursued by law enforcement. The mayor of Gyumri is a ‘bribe-taker,’ Vanadzor’s mayor turned out to be a ‘criminal’ after winning. You simply do not respect the people’s vote — that’s the real issue,” she said, reports Panorama.am .
She criticized the contrasting way authorities detained suspects in two recent high-profile incidents: “We saw how the suspect in the murder of an opposition mayor was calmly and neatly detained. And then we saw them smashing the doors of the Gyumri City Hall to arrest Vardan Ghukasyan.”
Vardanyan also drew a comparison with the ANIF (Armenian National Interests Fund) case, questioning why no detentions had occurred despite allegations of massive embezzlement.
“You talk here about ANIF. Let’s see — is the approach selective or not? How many people have been arrested in the 25-billion-dram embezzlement case? Vahagn Aleksanyan? Zero,” she said.
At that point, Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan asked her to conclude. Vardanyan replied, “I’m finishing now, calmly,” to which Rubinyan retorted, “I am calm — finish now… cut off her microphone.”
Gyumri mayor Vardan Ghukasyan has been detained for two months on corruption charges. Law enforcement raided City Hall on October 20 and arrested eight officials. A separate criminal case has been launched over mass unrest and obstruction of justice, with 33 people detained.
