YEREVAN. – In her speech Wednesday at the National Assembly of Armenia, Lilit Makunts, the head of the majority My Step faction in the legislature, referred to the statements by the MPs of the Prosperous Armenia faction on silencing the opposition.

"Just as the political majority cannot silence the opposition, so the opposition cannot silence—with its statements, or in some other way, by making political statements—the political majority," she said, in particular.

Makunts noted that in their speeches on Tuesday as well, their Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) parliamentary faction colleagues spoke about the attempts to silence the political opposition, and they spoke about it while the My Step faction was silent. "Now let me explain why we were silent. Because in the legal process, the My Step faction had nothing else to do but listen to the prosecutor's motion, listen to the questions, speeches of the PAP faction, and make its decision during the secret ballot. We were silent because both the public of the Republic of Armenia and the international partners have the right to hear and understand—without unnecessary overflow, unnecessary interference—what was going on, regardless of how diligently the opposition colleagues tried to present it as 'political persecution,'" she said.

Makunts noted that boycotting is the right of the opposition, appealing to various instances, including international ones, is also the right of the opposition, but at the same time, it is everyone's moral duty to be honest and transparent with Armenia’s society and international partners. "Yes, freedom of speech, democracy, pluralism are the important achievements of Armenia. (...). From now on, everyone in the Republic of Armenia is equal before the law," the head of My Step faction emphasized, in particular.