YEREVAN. – After the violence used in the parliament, I mentioned in my speech that we expect condemnation and political consequences, but after that, the Prime Minister legitimized with his speech the violence that occurred. Edmon Marukyan, leader of the opposition Bright Armenia Party and its parliamentary faction, stated this at Wednesday’s briefings in the National Assembly (NA).

"On the contrary, a campaign started aimed at making the victim of violence a perpetrator of violence, or the main culprit," Marukyan added. "That campaign has not stopped today, too, and is gaining momentum. There is a deep circumstance in it. Describing the alternative, oppositional critical harsh speech made in the NA as a provocation, and, also, saying that if it was a provocation, violence could be used, which is justified. This will have consequences, it will have a wavy effect on all the processes taking place in the Republic of Armenia, on the oppositional speech of the people, the freedom of alternative speech; this is the beginning of a huge process."

Marukyan added that with this incident, the incumbent Armenian authorities have also marked the beginning of their end because, according to him, authorities that justify violence against free speech, especially in parliament, cannot have a good future.