YEREVAN. – Republic of Armenia (RA) third President Serzh Sargsyan's lawyer has filed a petition with the Prosecutor General's Office demanding the termination of the criminal proceedings against Sargsyan. His lawyer, Amram Makinyan, told about this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

"The RA Constitution (...) guarantees the RA President's [presidential] immunity," the attorney said. "The President of the Republic may not be prosecuted, or held liable, for actions arising out of his status during his term of office and after the end of his term of office."

Makinyan stressed that there is political persecution against Sargsyan.

"For at least a year and a half, various offenses attributed to Mr. Sargsyan are being made from different tribunals, and a charge is made with such a process," he said. "If this is not political persecution, then what is?"

The lawyer noted that they will take steps depending on the decision of the Prosecutor's Office. "We are now awaiting the General Prosecutor's response," he said. "After that, we have a sequence of some steps that we will definitely take."

Arevik Khachatryan, Head of the Information and Public Relations Division of the Office of the Prosecutor General, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the Office of the Prosecutor General has received the petition regarding the functional immunity of third President Serzh Sargsyan.

As reported earlier, Armenian third president Serzh Sargsyan was charged Wednesday with large-scale embezzlement.

A signature bond to not leave Armenia has been selected as a pretrial measure