Armenia MPs strip Opp leader of immunity

YEREVAN: Armenia’s parliament stripped the leader of the main opposition party of his parliamentary immunity Tuesday, as police arrested more than 100 people rallying in protest at the move against him. Lawmakers voted 87 to 0 to allow prosecutors to launch a criminal investigation against oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan for alleged financial crimes. Tsarukyan is the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party. The vote had been boycotted by opposition parties and on Tuesday evening MPs are to hold a separate vote on Tsarukyan´s pre-trial detention, which the prosecutor general´s office has requested. Earlier in the day, hundreds of Tsarukyan´s supporters used trucks and buses to block several streets in the capital Yerevan and staged a rally outside parliament. Police spokesman Ashot Aharonyan told AFP that 136 protesters were detained. Mass gatherings are currently banned in Armenia due to a state of emergency imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The protest came after prosecutors said they wanted to take Tsarukyan into custody, pending his trial. On Sunday, officers of Armenia´s national security service searched Tsarukyan´s house and his party´s offices as part of their investigation into “financial crimes”.