Mayors of Meghri and Sisian Must Be Released Immediately as They Are Now MPs: Vardevanyan

The mayors of Meghri and Sisian, Mkhitar Zakaryan and Arthur Sargsyan, must be released immediately for the simple reason that they are now members of the National Assembly, and the CEC has issued them parliamentary certificates. This was stated by Aram Vardevanyan, a member of the National Assembly from the 'Armenia' bloc, in an interview with NEWS.am.

“I sent those certificates and their copies to the Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan yesterday, hoping that he, having a constitutional duty to ensure the legality of the preliminary investigation of criminal cases, will restore constitutional legality by overturning the detention decision, since there is no consent from the National Assembly regarding either Mkhitar Zakaryan or Arthur Sargsyan. Therefore, they must be released immediately,” said Vardevanyan.

He noted that his application has already been registered with the Prosecutor's Office. “This is an issue that requires immediate consideration. That is, it should not be viewed in terms of specific deadlines. We have an obvious problem concerning compliance with the Constitution, and we have a Prosecutor's Office that is responsible for overseeing the legality of preliminary investigations. They already know that Arthur Sargsyan and Mkhitar Zakaryan have parliamentary status and are obliged to respond immediately. The detention must be lifted,” Vardevanyan emphasized.

Vardevanyan recalled that the Deputy Prosecutor General Gevorg Baghdasaryan, during a court hearing on June 29, essentially agreed with him that the consent for depriving a member of parliament of freedom should be carried out through the procedures of the National Assembly. “Therefore, the violation of a parliament member's personal inviolability should be lifted immediately. The Prosecutor's Office has such authority and obligation,” he stated.

When asked how he would assess the situation if the Prosecutor's Office took no further action and the detention of the two MPs remained in force, the representative of the 'Armenia' bloc said, “That will raise very serious issues. Such behavior will only harm the reputation of the Prosecutor's Office. Let's also not exclude the possibility that the Prosecutor's Office will indeed fulfill its constitutional obligation. If the Prosecutor's Office fails to fulfill its duty, we will inform about further actions as well.”

He pointed out that the first session of the National Assembly is on August 2, where Arthur Sargsyan and Mkhitar Zakaryan will have to fulfill the duties arising from their representative mandate and status. “There is a significant difference between obtaining consent from the CEC for criminal prosecution of a parliamentary candidate and the completely different legal regime that applies when a candidate becomes a member of parliament. Upon becoming a member of parliament, the legal regulations and guarantees of personal inviolability provided by Article 96 of the Constitution come into effect, which were not available during the pre-election period,” he said.