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A total of 124 investigators are dealing with the criminal proceedings launched against the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader, lawmaker Gagik Tsarukyan, PAP MP Naira Zohrabyan told reporters in the parliament on Monday.

Tsarukyan has been charged with vote buying, tax evasion and illegal land appropriation, which he vehemently denies as “politically motivated.”

Zohrabyan again denounced the case as a political persecution against the opposition leader and his party.

She also condemned the arrest of another PAP MP Abraham Manukyan charged with assistance in vote buying, stating the latter suffers from serious health conditions and is at risk group for the novel coronavirus.

The lawmaker claims Manukyan’s arrest is simply aimed at pressuring him to testify against Gagik Tsarukyan. However, Zohrabyan assures, all efforts are in vain since there is no factual evidence that the PAP leader bribed voters in the 2017 parliamentary elections.

Separately, she deplored the law on significantly increasing the property taxes paid by owners of large and expensive houses, adding it is fraught with threats and is a move against citizens.

“This will greatly affect our compatriots. I know families of intellectuals living in the Kentron District who inherited quite large apartments from their parents. Now those people do not work, they are retirees, and it will be very difficult for them to pay that sum,” she said.