Galoust Sahakyan: I do not want to suspect second president of Armenia of wicked designs

• Wednesday, October 3, 18:03

 " I do not want to suspect the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan of wicked designs", Head of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Faction Galoust Sahakyan said to ArmInfo when asked whether Kocharyan's statement supporting the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) member Vartan Oskanian is a gauntlet thrown by Kocharyan on the threshold of the presidential elections in 2013.  

In the meanwhile, Sahakyan doubts that the author of the statement disseminated on Kocharyan's behalf is Kocharyan himself. "The logic of the given statement is not characteristic of the second president. And if that statement has really been made by Kocharyan, it means that he has betrayed his principles he followed during his presidential term. During Kocharyan's presidency, the Parliament was never an investigative body, and now the second president is trying to ascribe this role to the national Assembly. In the meantime, having agreed to deprive Oskanian of his deputy immunity, we have
prevented the Parliament from participating in the money laundering investigation process>, Sahakyan said.

To note, on 2 October Vartan Oskanian was stripped of immunity.  64 members of the parliament voted for and six - against, and one ballot was considered invalid. The total of 71 members of the parliament from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia and "Orinats Yerkir" party took part in the voting. All the opposition parties as well as the "Prosperous Armenia" Party boycotted the voting.

To recall, Kocharyan said: "I have thoroughly studied the materials of Oskanian's case and could not find the answer to the question what the NSS, prosecutor general's office and the parliament had in common with the friendly relations of Vartan Oskanian and John Huntsman".  Oskanian has always been one of the most successful ministers and a sincere figure, which is an extremely rare feature in our political reality, he said. "People like him, with such features and merits, should be cherished and not persecuted, especially taking into consideration the fact that he represents a political force with a very big electorate. I am sorry for what had happened and express my support and sympathy to Vartan Oskanian", - the statement of the
second president of Armenia says.