Nikol Pashinyan Engages in Group, Serious Crime: Vanetsyan

Arthur Vanetsyan, the chairman of the Homeland party, has issued a statement in which he says: "Dear compatriots, I have had the opportunity to voice that Nikol Pashinyan will stop at nothing to maintain his power. Today, Nikol Pashinyan is surpassing himself. What I have spoken about at the time of my resignation is becoming a reality.

After months of disgraceful pressures unleashed by Pashinyan against the Constitutional Court and its judges, and following the failed referendum, today’s agenda of the National Assembly session includes a draft that contains a very specific composition of usurpation of power. Nikol Pashinyan is engaging in group crime, a serious crime of usurping power and subverting the constitutional order, involving at least 88 deputies.

Dear deputies, do not think that Article 96 of the Constitution (which states that a deputy cannot be persecuted or held accountable for opinions expressed or votes cast within the framework of their parliamentary activity) can protect you from the consequences of committing a serious crime with your vote.

Therefore, I urge you to refrain from complying with the illegal orders of an unstable person occupying the position of Prime Minister of Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan is pushing you towards a criminal act, the consequences of which, I assure you, will be very severe — first of all for our state, and then personally for each of you. By your vote today, you will share the criminal and political responsibility for the actions of Nikol Pashinyan. Think well.

Dear colleagues, given the current situation, the Homeland party is initiating the formation of a "Committee for the Restoration of the Constitutional Order" and we are starting urgent consultations with all societal and political forces concerned about the future of the state."