Strong Armenia candidate claims bribery allegations are absurd
David Ghazinyan, a parliamentary candidate running with the Strong Armenia Alliance, has commented on the Anti-Corruption Committee’s request that the Prosecutor General’s Office submit a petition to the CEC to strip him of his immunity and thereafter issue an arrest warrant.
‘I consider the reports of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which contain data that does not correspond to reality, such as a verdict, abnormal. This is a breakdown of the legal system and the state system in general’, he told reporters on Sunday afternoon.
He pointed to a leaked recording which alleged Ghazinyan had given ֏1.4 million ($3,800) in bribes, questioning why the recording did not include Ghazinyan’s own statements.
‘If [the authorities] had published it, they would have ruined both my case and the other cases related to the alleged bribery of voters. No case of bribery of voters has been revealed in connection with our force. There is not a single person who has stated that they were offered a bribe’, he claimed.
Ghazinyan also alleged that searches had been conducted in his house, which violates the law, as such an action also requires the CEC strips him of his immunity beforehand.
‘They were looking for media, lists of voter bribes, and cash’.
‘Considering their rating figures reported to the authorities and the number of participants in our rally, which was larger than their rally, they have no choice but to destroy the campaign headquarters and intimidate others’, Ghazinyan concluded.
