June 18, 2018 - 14:58 AMT
Armenia parliament poised to strip ruling MP of immunity June 19

The National Assembly will meet for an extraordinary session on Tuesday, June 19 to discuss the issue of stripping one of its members from parliamentary immunity.

The government took such a decision on Monday, and stripping General Manvel Grigoryan of immunity would pave the way for the security agencies to launch criminal prosecution against him and deprive him of liberty under the Prosecutor General's petition.

The National Security Service on Sunday, June 17 unveiled video footage of searches conducted in the private house and the summer house belonging to Grigoryan. Besides the large quantities of weapons and ammunition, the SNS has confiscated a vast amount of equipment and food belonging to the army, the assistance collected by school children, the Church and civilians for sending to the Nagorno Karabakh frontline in the days of the Four-Day War in April 2016 - which were used to feed Grigoryan’s animals - as well as vehicles donated to the army.

Following the revelations, Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan had urged Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to call an extraordinary session of the parliament to start criminal prosecution and strip him of his immunity.