Levon Kocharyan, an MP from the opposition “Armenia” Faction of the National Assembly and son of second president Robert Kocharyan, believes that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has an inferiority complex towards Robert Kocharyan.

“Nikol Pashinyan has complexes towards our family and Robert Kocharyan personally. Probably, the matter is in temperament. A strong person usually respects his own kind. The weak and cowardly do not respect dignified and courageous people, they want everyone to be like them,” Levon Kocharyan said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The opposition lawmaker argued that the criminal case against his father is political, there can be no second opinions here, and no matter what legal justifications they try to bring, one can only guess about the objectives. According to him, the chain of arrests of the leaders of the opposition forces in Armenia is not a coincidence. The authorities are trying to weaken the opposition in this way, possibly in light of the expected concessions to Azerbaijan, or in light of the amendments to the Armenian constitution.

“Regarding my father, he [i.e. Pashinyan] is especially trying to please [Azerbaijani president] Aliyev, because all the presidents of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] are in prison: Three in Azerbaijan, one [i.e. Robert Kocharyan] in Armenia,” the opposition legislator noted, recalling that the arrests were preceded by a direct order from the country’s leadership.

Asking what such a style of behavior could have to do with democracy, Levon Kocharyan emphasized that such a violation of the presumption of innocence and behavior are abnormal for a country that has applied to join Europe, and the silence of European organizations is incomprehensible.

Answering a question about the actions of the Armenian opposition, Levon Kocharyan admitted that the street struggle has not been crowned with success so far, but added: “I believe certain negative developments were managed to be delayed or neutralized.”

Referring to the actions of the Armenian authorities, Levon Kocharyan noted that the process of confiscating property has become a bludgeon against political opponents. The opposition MP reiterated that their family did not do anything illegal, but the authorities’ conduct towards business raises doubts, since Armenia’s budget suffers from this. According to him, it is one thing when accounts are seized, but the business is working, and quite another when enterprises are sealed closed and do not operate; therefore, they do not pay taxes.

Levon Kocharyan said the information disseminated by the Investigative Committee of Armenia that their companies allegedly hid 9 billion drams was a manipulation, because, according to him, it is not about hiding that amount, but about hiding the taxes generated from that amount, which is many times less, not to mention that the information generally does not correspond to reality.

In addition, the prosecution claims that it does not find it appropriate to present evidence.

"That is, everything is being used to create ‘noisy’ headlines and impressions. Who will delve into what the real problem is? Who will read the refutation," the opposition MP complained.

"We are dealing with authorities whose main weapon is lies and manipulation. They do any meanness and call it the ‘people's demand,’" Levon Kocharyan concluded.