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Former MP, Deputy Chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Armen Ashotyan reiterated that the criminal charges leveled against Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia’s third president and the party chairman, are politically motivated.

The Special Investigative Service on Wednesday charged the ex-president with organizing the alleged embezzlement of 489 million drams in government funds along with a group of other officials through misuse of official position.

“Thoroughly studying the legal references in the charges brought against Armenia’s third President, RPA Chairman Serzh Sargsyan, which attempts to present the exclusively political process as legal one, we come to the following conclusion: Do you remember the leak of a well-known phone conversation in the framework of the criminal case against Robert Kocharyan, where authorities insist that Kocharyan's case is water? If we follow this logic and look at the four elements described by Plato, if Kocharyan’s case is ‘water’, the case against Serzh Sargsyan is ‘air’,” Ashotyan told a news conference on Friday.

He said they will look forward to the history’s judgment to see whose case in the future will be “fire and flame” and whose case will be “earth”.

In a statement on 4 December, the RPA Executive Body denounced the charges against Serzh Sargsyan as “fabricated” and “absurd”, stressing the Armenian authorities seek to divert the attention of the Armenian people from “escalating daily problems the country faces.”

“The charges brought against Armenia’s former President Serzh Sargsyan are a clear case of political persecution aimed at silencing the political opponents against the backdrop of risks threatening to Armenia and Artsakh.

““The populist and authoritarian regime that has seized the power in Armenia will bear all responsibility for the current process,” the statement read.