YEREVAN. – I am not aware of the criminal case or of any other details. As for giving a political context to criminal cases, I naturally do not consider it acceptable. Lilit Makunts, the head of the majority My Step faction in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, stated this in a talk with journalists in the NA on Tuesday, referring to the statements of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) members that criminal cases were being initiated against their fellow party members, and a new criminal case was launched Monday on charges of forcing the employees of the cement factory belonging to the family of Gagik Tsarukyan—chairman of the PAP, MP, and business tycoon—to buy votes.

"It may be more convenient for those engaged in politics to present it that way, but one process has nothing to do with another. We have the political response to our opponents in the political sphere, and we always give [it]," she said.

And asked whether a certain political arrangement was made between the authorities and the PAP after the court decision not to arrest Tsarukyan, Makunts responded: "There is no political arrangement with any force. There was and is no arrangement."