The parliamentary factions of Armenian National Congress (ANC) and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) refuse to support the Parliament's statement condemning the attack on ANC parliamentarian Aram Manukyan. Head of the ANC Faction thinks the authorities, who have prepared the text of the statement, are behind the attack on Aram Manukyan. Otherwise, Chief of Armenian Police Vladimir Gasparyan would have resigned, he said.
For her part, Secretary of the PAP Faction Naira Zohrabyan said that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) is imitating concerns instead of punishing those involved in the attacks on politicians and civic activists. She added that the PAP will not sign the statement, which has hastily been prepared like a school composition.
To note, on Tuesday evening the Armenian Parliament convened an extraordinary session to adopt the text of the statement condemning the attack on MP Aram Manukyan. The text was prepared by ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the RPA.
To recall, the unknown burned cars of four oppositionists lately, beaten up three Artsakh War veterans who harshly criticized the authorities, and attacked oppositionist parliamentarian Aram Manukyan and later his comrade Ashot Piliposyan. All these people claim that the authorities are behind those incidents. On 15 December, the Police detained Arshak Svazyan (born in 1973) suspected of beating Aram Manukyan. It is widely rumored by local media outlets that Svazyan is the former driver of Arakel Movsisyan (Shmays), MP from Republican Party of Armenia. Meanwhile, Movsisyan denies these reports and swears that he bears no relation to the attack on Manukyan.