The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) released the following statement today following the decision yesterday by the Yerevan Court of First Instance to detain   party leader Gagik Tsarukyan for two months pending trial on vote buying and alleged financial crimes.

Yesterday, the court, chaired by Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan, illegally arrested BHK leader Gagik Tsarukyan. No solid facts were presented by the court as to how Gagik Tsarukyan obstructed the preliminary investigation four months after the accusation.

What happened is obviously political revenge against the leader of the largest parliamentary opposition force and the BHK.

It is obvious that Gagik Tsarukyan is yet another political prisoner. The government, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, two and a half years after the revolution, recording obvious failures and failures in all spheres, tries to silence the opposition with dirty political revenge, issuing an order to the judge to arrest Gagik Tsarukyan.

Many BHK figures, deputies, heads of territorial structures are being targeted by the government, and they are clearly being politically persecuted under the guise of fake legal processes.

Dear compatriots, our country is facing serious challenges today. The incompetent government, leading the country to a social catastrophe, waging a fierce struggle against our national identity, reaching confidential agreements with the Azerbaijani political elite through envoys on the Artsakh issue, is trying to establish an atmosphere of fear and terror in the country through political revenge, which will surely fail.

The BHK, together with like-minded political forces, will continue to fight for the solution of the problems of our country and citizens. Two and a half years ago our compatriots expected those solutions and blocked the streets. Instead of solving these problems, the government is engaged in a constant search for internal enemies, political revenge and attempting to form a dictatorship.

Dear compatriots, our struggle and that of Gagik Tsarukyan is just. We will not be intimidated and silenced by those seeking political revenge, and we will surely have a new class of government where there will be no room for revenge, pettiness and personal avengers. Those who ordered this shameless and cheap revenge against Gagik Tsarukyan and all the participants will be punished according to the law. It is only a matter of a short time.

God bless us all…