Opposition Strong Armenia Alliance MP Narek Karapetyan has addressed the rumors about his arrest.

As reported earlier, law enforcement officers have been searching his home since early morning.

The opposition politician told reporters that he “could be charged with something every month,” but he has no idea about the essence of the charge.

“Their task is to limit the political opposition [in Armenia],” Karapetyan added.

“If they decide to arrest [me], this will be an unprecedented case when they are trying to isolate the number one candidate on the [electoral] list [of a political force in Armenia] for political reasons. But they will only get the opposite effect by doing so,” Karapetyan said.

The opposition lawmaker added that he will definitely attend the inaugural session of the new Armenian parliament. He preferred to keep secret the specific parliamentary committees in which the Strong Armenia faction would be included, arguing that the authorities would immediately try to do the opposite.

“We will be in those committees where we will have the opportunity to oversee their activities,” he stressed.

Regarding the question as to whether their participation in the inaugural session of the new parliament legitimizes the authorities’ decision not to invite the Catholicos of All Armenians to this session, Karapetyan categorically denied this approach. Moreover, he stated that the representatives of Strong Armenia are preparing to meet with the Catholicos.

“The Catholicos is elected by all Armenians, together with the spiritual leaders. He has the legitimate right to be present at the sessions, and no politician can interfere in the affairs of the church,” the opposition politician said.

And to the question of whether they will participate in the election of the new speaker of the Armenian parliament, Narek Karapetyan sarcastically replied: “Are we talking about the person [i.e. the current parliament’s deputy speaker Ruben Rubinyan] who was educated in Turkey and tried to hide it?” He then added: "If another candidate is nominated, we will discuss it."