Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has approved the Prosecutor’s Office’s request seeking consent to initiate criminal proceedings against Narek Karapetyan, a member of the Strong Armenia alliance who has been elected to parliament. The information was announced by the Adviser to the Prosecutor General of Armenia, Lusine Martirosyan, according to Armenpress.

She said the Prosecutor General’s Office had submitted two motions to the CEC: one requesting consent to initiate criminal proceedings against Karapetyan and another seeking consent to deprive him of his liberty.

According to Martirosyan, only the first motion—the request to authorize criminal prosecution—has been considered so far.

“We have obtained approval of that motion,” Martirosyan said.

Earlier, Aram Vardevanyan, a representative of the Strong Armenia alliance and legal counsel, said the criminal proceedings against Narek Karapetyan were linked to allegations involving Alik Aleksanyan, another representative of the alliance.

The Prosecutor’s Office, for its part, said it would not comment on the specific criminal proceedings under which it had submitted the motions requesting consent to prosecute and detain Karapetyan, citing the interests of the pre-trial investigation.

On July 21, the Central Election Commission allocated the parliamentary mandates following the June 7 parliamentary elections. Narek Karapetyan was among those who received a parliamentary mandate from the Strong Armenia alliance list.