Tsarukyan: If my arrest raises salaries and solves the Karabakh  issue, then let them arrest me 

ArmInfo. If my arrest increases salaries and pensions, creates new jobs, and solves the Karabakh issue, then let them arrest me. Headof the Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan stated this at a meeting with representatives of  Gegharkunik region.   Meanwhile, the leader of the PAP did not fail to notice that his  arrest not only would not resolve any issues, but rather the  opposite. Tsarukyan in his speech also touched upon the  socio-economic situation, noting that due to the coronavirus, an  economic crisis has matured in the country, and a number of  representatives of certain sectors have been unemployed for months.  At the same time, according to him, the voice of the protesters  remains unheard by the Government.  In this regard, Tsarukyan pointed out the need to develop appropriate  assistance programs with the involvement of experts in specific  areas. The politician also called for a review of agricultural loans,  promising that the PAP, for its part, will raise the issue.  In his  speech, Tsarukyan also criticized the reforms in the field of  education concerning the reduction of the hours of the "Armenian  language" subject and the removal from the school curriculum as a  separate subject of the "History of the Armenian Church". The party  leader also called the ratification of the Istanbul Convention  shameful, recalling that his party opposed it. "I have already said that we are organizing a meeting so that the  voice of the people can be heard," Tsarukyan stressed. Earlier, Tsarukyan was deprived of his parliamentary immunity, and  the parliament also approved a petition to imprison him. The charges  against Tsarukyan were brought forward on the basis of part 2 of  Article 154.2 (bribery of voters) of the RA Criminal Code. To recall,  on June 14 searches were carried out in his house, after which he was  summoned to the NSS for interrogation. Tsarukyan described what was  happening as a political persecution, while the NSS reported on three  criminal cases in which the politician appears. Thus, according to  the investigation, the leadership and other members of the Prosperous  Armenia Party, in accordance with clearly developed schemes,  distributed hundreds of millions of drams in pre- election bribes in  2017, and this was done under the pretext of charity. In another  case, Tsarukyan's companies were involved in organizing illegal  casino activities, as a result of which the state suffered $ 60  million in damage. Another criminal case concerns a company  associated with Tsarukyan, which illegally appropriated land plots,  and the state suffered 342 million drams (about $ 685,000) in damage.