Opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) chairman—and business tycoon—Gagik Tsarukyan, after staying in the Investigative Committee of Armenia for more than five hours, left there at night. The crowd outside greeted him with applause.

“The accusation is completely fabricated, a lie, a bubble, there is nothing 100 percent true, everything will be clear,” Tsarukyan told the crowd. The PAP leader was taken to court, where his detention will be considered. “The court will consider Gagik Tsarukyan’s detention petition at 9:00 in the morning,” wrote the PAP chairman’s spokesperson, Iveta Tonoyan.

The petition to detain Tsarukyan was submitted to the court at night. The Investigative Committee of Armenia on Monday issued a statement, according to which, in one of the criminal proceedings being investigated by the committee, facts were obtained that a number of individuals, organized by Gagik Tsarukyan, had committed large-scale fraud and money laundering from 2022 to 2024. Tsarukyan’s lawyer stated that these accusations are absurd and ridiculous.