Armenia: Parliament strips Gagik Tsarukyan of immunityJune 16, 2020 - 16:29 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Assembly on Tuesday, June 16 voted unanimously to strip lawmaker Gagik Tsarukyan from his parliamentary immunity. The move comes amid a probe into businesses owned and run by Tsarukyan and several criminal cases involving the lawmaker. All the 87 members of parliament who cast their votes represent the ruling My Step bloc, headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Opposition lawmakers from Bright Armenia and Tsarukyan's Prosperous Armenia parties did not participate in the vote. Security service officers conducted a search at Tsarukyan's residence for four hours on Sunday. The man who is considered the wealthiest person in Armenia was then questioned for nine hours, with four criminal cases launched towards the end of the day. According to the Security Service, a casino belonging to Tsarukyan has caused AMD 30 billion ($62 million) in damages to the state, while his party, Prosperous Armenia, handed out hundreds of millions of drams in election bribes in 2017. 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). |