Criminal Cases Filed Against Sarukyan Days After Criticism, Iveta Tonoyan

Recently, representatives of the authorities have frequently circulated the opinion that the criticism voiced by the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, Gagik Sarukyan, against the government is connected to the criminal cases initiated against him. In an interview with Shabat.am, Prosperous Armenia party MP Iveta Tonoyan deemed these claims manipulative.

“I want to call on representatives of the authorities, all those who are consistently trying to circulate the thesis that Gagik Sarukyan’s criticisms of the authorities are due to the criminal cases initiated against him, to sharpen their mathematical abilities a bit, because through elementary subtraction and addition, it will become clear that these are mere manipulations. Gagik Sarukyan had already delivered a programmatic speech with constructive criticism during the emergency session of the political council of the Prosperous Armenia party on June 5. He provided grounded arguments regarding the specific sectors in which the government has failed and undermined its policies, and pointed out that the necessity for a complete change of the government has ripened,” said Tonoyan.

“A few days later, on June 10, only then did criminal cases begin to be filed against Gagik Sarukyan. In other words, all these criminal cases against him were initiated after his voiced criticisms. And now I find it simply ridiculous that the authorities are trying to present it as if Gagik Sarukyan has spoken out critically because criminal cases were filed against him.”

“The assessments made by Gagik Sarukyan have been exclusively well-founded, his concerns have been based on concrete facts he has presented, especially regarding the failure to combat the pandemic, the decline in economic indicators, and numerous other existing issues in various sectors. In response to those facts, the authorities have only provided false and manipulative assessments, which is merely an attempt to divert public attention, nothing more,” added Tonoyan.