Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan has filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

According to Aysor.am , Tsarukyan is seeking a court-ordered retraction of a number of statements made by Pashinyan during a press briefing on May 28. The lawsuit challenges remarks in which the prime minister allegedly referred to Tsarukyan as a “criminal,” “spy,” “agent,” and accused him of participating in criminal dealings, robbing the Armenian people, and including Andranik Tevanyan on the Prosperous Armenia electoral list at the instruction of a foreign intelligence service.

Tsarukyan is demanding 3 million drams in compensation for alleged insult and 6 million drams for alleged defamation, bringing the total claim to 9 million drams.

The Prosperous Armenia leader is also asking the court to require the publication and distribution of a video retraction and a written correction through several media outlets.

The lawsuit was filed on June 2 and has been assigned to Judge Naira Avetisyan of the Yerevan Civil Court.

Earlier, during the election campaign, Tsarukyan responded to questions about Pashinyan’s criticism by saying that the prime minister “resorts to insults because he has nothing else to say.”

Pashinyan had also stated: “The Guloyan-Tsarukyan mafia has yet to face its reckoning.” Referring to former Kotayk governor Karapet Guloyan, who is Tsarukyan’s son-in-law, the prime minister said that, just as he had promised developments regarding the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine in 2021, the Ararat Cement plant—described by him as the backbone of Tsarukyan’s business empire—would soon become state property.