YEREVAN. – During the discussion of the issue of sufficient evidence, the threshold for the sufficiency of evidence is placed much higher for bringing charges against any MP. Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan said this in the National Assembly Tuesday during the parliament debates on his petitions to strip parliamentary opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader, MP, and business tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan of his parliamentary immunity, launch criminal proceedings against him, and take Tsarukyan into custody.

"During the discussion of the issue of sufficient evidence, the threshold for the sufficiency of evidence is placed much higher for bringing charges against any MP because I am defending charges in front of the public in this tribune. So, if Gagik Tsarukyan had been an unknown person to the public, there would no difference. The prosecution would have been initiated earlier because there would have been no need to overcome such obstacles [i.e., parliamentary consent]. The most crucial key evidence was still being collected until late yesterday evening. At the moment that I considered the key evidence to be sufficient, I launched the petition at that moment," the attorney general said, in particular.