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A criminal case has been launched into the online threats made against Edmon Marukyan, the head of the Bright Armenia opposition parliamentary faction, under Article 137.1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, Arevik Khachatryan told Panorama.am.

“The threat to murder, to inflict heavy damage to one’s health or to destroy property of big volume, provided there was real danger that this threat would be carried out, is punished with correctional labor for up to 1 year, or arrest for up to 2 months, or imprisonment for up to 2 years,” reads the article.

Speaking at a news conference on February 11, the MP said that he and his colleagues had been receiving threatening letters after one of his speeches at the National Assembly.

The lawmaker stressed he had publicized the threats on social media but the law-enforcement authorities had failed to take action.

“A politician reports threats, while there is zero response from law-enforcement authorities,” he said. “This is normal, since the hatred is being generated by the authorities, why should the authorities respond to it? I am disappointed.”

He also said he had reported the threats to the attorney general.