In Yerevan, about a hundred protesters were detained due to searches of the leader of the opposition party

In Yerevan, more than 90 supporters of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party were detained near the building of the National Security Service, located next to the Ring Boulevard. The leader of the party, businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, is being interrogated there, in whose mansion the special services conducted searches in the morning.

According to Gala TV, party supporters blocked traffic on the nearby Moskovyan Street, the police in response demanded to disperse, after which they began arrests. The press service of the department explained them as a violation of the state of emergency introduced due to the coronavirus; The activists were promised to be released after the protocols were drawn up.

The Prosperous Armenia deputies who were on site also told Gala TV that, according to their information, Tsarukyan was allegedly going to be arrested. They linked his criminal case to Tsarukyan's recent speeches against government actions due to the coronavirus and his calls to fire Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

In total, Tsarukyan appears in three cases that are being investigated by the National Security Service. As part of the first, he is charged with involvement in an illegal gambling company, the damage to the budget from which was estimated at $60 million; within the framework of the second - giving bribes by a candidate for deputies from the party in 2017; within the framework of the third - the illegal lease of land in the metropolitan suburb of Arinj for a shopping center.

Tsarukyan, who was elected to the country's National Assembly in 2003, founded his party a year later. In the elections at the end of 2018, which took place after the Velvet Revolution, his party came in second place (behind the ruling My Step alliance) and won 26 seats there. The "new" then drew attention to the fact that although the party often changed its direction and views depending on the situation, it had the support of the inhabitants of the regions and villages.