Key facts
- Armenia has seized control of a cement company owned by arrested opposition leader Gagik Tsarukyan.
- Tsarukyan was arrested on July 6 on suspicion of fraudulently importing $21 million worth of goods.
- The Anti-Corruption Court granted a petition to transfer Tsarukyan's shares in the cement company to the Armenian government.
- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has vowed to pursue criminal cases against opposition parties and confiscate their illicit assets.
Armenia has seized control of a cement company owned by Gagik Tsarukyan, an arrested opposition leader and businessman, amidst accusations that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is cracking down on political opponents. Tsarukyan, leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, was arrested on July 6 on suspicion of fraudulently importing $21 million worth of goods and has been placed in detention for two months.
The Anti-Corruption Court granted a petition by the prosecutor general to transfer Tsarukyan's shares in the cement company to the Armenian government. The lawsuit also demands Tsarukyan relinquish his role in 38 companies and pay 108 billion Armenian dram ($296 million).
Pashinyan, who has drawn support from the European Union for steering Armenia closer to the West, described Tsarukyan's party and two others as a "three-headed spy party of war." He has vowed to pursue criminal cases against members of these parties, which he states will involve "confiscation of illicit assets."
Critics, such as Tigran Grigoryan of the Regional Centre for Democracy and Security, argue that the action against Tsarukyan is the law being "instrumentalised for the narrow political purposes of the ruling party" and poses a risk to individuals not associated with the previous government or Russia.