Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian authorities, in a moral sense, are doing something very wrong, but they’re doing that which is the law of power, said New Times party leader Aram Karapetyan, today at a press conference in the Armenian capital.
“The authorities say, you want to be opposition, go ahead, no problem, withdraw from everything, become opposition and let them hit you with shock too, get you hospitalized, come with 40 people and arrest you, take you, shoot in the air — either like this or like that. Well how did you imagine it — eat well, drink well, present well, have a TV station, have ministers, have marzpets [regional governors], have business opportunities, make use of government leverage and along with this, be opposition?”
According to him, otherwise how could it have been discovered in one day that three people on the Prosperous Armenia party ticket strolled with drugs in their pockets.
To explain his argument, the Armenian party leader cited Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov (considered to be opposition), who, according to Karapetyan, cannot be considered a serious oppositionist.
“Prokhorov asked the Kremlin for no more than 5 days to isolate his Right Cause party. Any oligarch, who would dare to go against the authorities, would be punished with the most severe measures applied by the authorities; thus, no one would have the courage to make that move,” he said.
Speaking about “the Prokhorov equivalent,” Armenian oligarch, Prosperous Armenia party leader Gagik Tsarukyan (pictured), Karapetyan assured, “If Gagik Tsarukyan were to become opposition, the Armenian authorities would seize the Prosperous Armenia party from him in one to two days, whereas the Kremlin did this in five days.”