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On October 2 the RA National Assembly continued the work of the four-day sittings. The deputies continued to debate the RA Prosecutor General’s petition “On Giving Consent of Including the RA National Assembly deputy Vardan Oskanyan as Defendant” interrupted on the previous day.

The NA deputies delivered speeches on the matter under debate.

In the opinion of the PAP faction members Stepan Margaryan and Elinar Vardanyan, the criminal case against Vardan Oskanyan has political context and pressure towards the PAP political force. The member of the same faction Gurgen Arsenyan noted that he believed in Vardan Oskanyan’s sincerity. The deputy called on the political majority to propose the RA Prosecutor General to take back the petition.

The Secretary of the ANC faction Aram Manukyan said that the faction would not take part in voting.

In their speeches the members of the RPA faction Hayk Babukhanyan, Hamlet Harutyunyan, Khosrov Harutyunyan have noted that the parliament is not a investigative body, hence with presented petition an   opportunity should be given to the law enforcement bodies to continue the investigative work and clarify the authenticity of the issue.

The Head of the Heritage faction Rubik Hakobyan did not agree with the view of the deputies of the RPA faction that depriving Vardan Oskanyan of impunity stems from their interests. The faction debated and decided to apply to the parliamentary majority proposing the RA Prosecutor General to take back the petition, and in case of not accepting the proposal the faction would boycott the voting.

The NA deputy Edmon Marukyan said that he would express his approach by voting, and the Secretary of the Rule of Law faction said that every deputy of the faction would freely express its stance by voting.

In his final speech the RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan touched upon the interpellations and conclusions sounded in the deputies’ speeches.

Aghvan Hovsepyan presented several details from the extract of the banking account, the move of the monetary means.

At the same time the RA Prosecutor General ensured that the further procedure would be transparent, public and the community will be informed about the results time and again.

After ending the debate the Chairman of the Accounting Committee Sukias Avetisyan presented the terms and the order of the voting. As a result of closed, secret ballot the National Assembly by 64 for, 6 against voting correlation (1 ballot paper was recognized invalid) made a decision to give consent of including the NA deputy Vardan Oskanyan as defendant.

Then the parliament turned to the debate of the next issue, the report of the 2011 RA Monetary Credit Programme Execution of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, which introduced the CB Deputy Chairman Nerses Yeritsyan.

The debate of the issue will continue at October 3 sitting of the National Assembly.