Employees of Tsarukyan's shopping center "Arinj Mall" demanded that law enforcement not interfere with their work.
The owners of the pavilions of the "Arinj Mall" shopping center in the Kotayk region, owned by the family of the arrested leader of the "Prosperous Armenia" party, Gagik Tsarukyan, held a protest. Several days ago, a number of pavilions were sealed, citing a nearby high-voltage line as the reason. Entrepreneurs are demanding explanations and that their work not be interfered with.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the director of "Arinj Mall", Alik Nazaryan, stated that employees of the State Revenue Committee seized documents and data from computers two to three weeks before Tsarukyan's arrest.
On July 7, the court arrested the leader of the opposition party "Prosperous Armenia", billionaire Gagik Tsarukyan, for two months, accused of fraud and tax evasion. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in May that the "Araratcement" plant would be nationalized. The prosecutor's office later reported a case regarding violations during the privatization of the enterprise and filed a lawsuit in court demanding the annulment of the privatization of the "Araratcement" enterprise. Workers of "Araratcement" achieved the reopening of the sealed enterprise on July 9, while Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan threatened them with dismissal for participating in protests, and a few days later, the Anti-Corruption Court transferred the "Araratcement" company to state management, with the prosecutor's office also demanding the confiscation of other assets of the businessman. The building of Gagik Tsarukyan's sports complex "Multi Sport" completely passed into the ownership of the Yerevan municipality.
On July 23, law enforcement arrived at the "Arinj Mall" shopping center located in the Kotayk region of Armenia and are taking actions that prevent the last from engaging in their daily trade, reports shamshyan.com.
In protest, employees are preparing to take radical measures, including blocking the Artashat highway – the Sevan road. Police are negotiating with them to prevent such a step, writes News.Am.
"We are the pavilion owners. They came and closed over 20 stores. They explain this by saying that the area is under high-voltage power lines, but at the same time, construction is ongoing across the street, and the indicated area is also under these lines. It is sad that we are not presented with any documents, no grounds, they just literally conveyed the reason and came on a non-working day, sealed the pavilions, and left," said one of the employees.
Some pavilions in the "Arinj Mall" shopping center were closed on July 20, reports "Sputnik Armenia". "All first-line stores and the parking lot were sealed. No one was warned, there were no notifications. People came out to protest, they are fighting for their piece of bread. And hungry people can do anything," the agency quotes one of the protest participants.
Employees of the shopping center state that they came out to protest out of fear that their trading pavilions could be sealed without warning, as happened with others.