On 14 June, the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) opposition leader Gagik Tsarukyan was summoned to the National Security Service (NSS) and questioned for more than eight hours following the search. 

After the questioning the NSS opened 3 charges against Tsarukyan, the NSS said that “a group of BHK members” handed out vote bribes during the 2017 parliamentary election campaign. The NSS said it has conducted “about four dozen searches'' as part of the investigation into the alleged vote buying which it said had been organized by the party’s “leading members.” The security service did not mention Tsarukyan by name. In another statement, the NSS accused two gambling firms controlled by Tsarukyan of serious financial irregularities that cost the state more than 29 billion drams ($60 million) in damage. The NSS went on to announce the opening of a third criminal case relating to Tsarukyan. It claimed that the Arinj village administration had illegally sold 7.5 hectares of community land to another Tsarukian-owned firm.

A number of BHK supporters gathered in front of the NSS to protest Tsarukyan’s questioning. It was reported that a total of 252 people were detained during the protests. During the protests, there were calls for Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. Amongst the apprehended were members of the Yerevan Council of Elders Markos Harutyunyan and Armen Nersisyan as well as Davit Khajakyan, head of the opposition Luys Faction of the Council. 

After Tsarukyan left the building he told the reporters that the process against him was political in nature. “All the processes that took place today and after my speech in general I qualify as political. They have papers, made-up papers. They want me to give up, they want to scare me. This is blackmailing, this is political persecution,” he said. The BHK officials described the move as “legal terror” and announced to continue its “struggle“ against the current Armenian authorities.

The move was also condemned by other parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties in Armenia. The opposition Bright Armenia party said that the move was a criminal prosecution based on political expediency and selective application of law.

Eduard Sharmazanov from the former ruling Republican Party described the move as “political persecution” and “repression” and added that was “the only mechanism” of the Armenian government to deal with political opponents.

“The authorities are once again reacting to the political assessment of the opposition by repressive methods. The most obvious is the undisguised desire to affirm the dictatorship of the power of one person. We again demand that the authorities return to the field of political struggle,” read the statement from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). 

The Hayrenik (Motherland) party, led by the former Armenian Security Chief Artur Vanetsyan, called for the immediate resignation of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who has “lost the sense of reality and formation of the anti-crisis government based on national consent.” 

The Heritage party in Armenia expressed its concerns over the tense situation created between the government and the BHK and the usage of disproportionate force against BHK deputies and called for a stop of internal clashes in the country. “All the problems voiced in the Republic of Armenia, ranging from political criticism of the government’s activities to the selective accusations of companies of non-fulfilment of tax obligations and distribution of bribery to voters in 2017, should be investigated and resolved exclusively in the legal plane, and political accusations should be answered only to political level,“ the statement emphasized.

The following day, the representatives of BHK, Single Armenia, Dashnaktsutyun, National Agenda and Hayrenik gathered in the office of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and reached a general consensus over the situation. 

Pashinyan’s spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan insisted that the criminal proceedings launched against Tsarukyan are not politically motivated. According to her, Tsarukyan knew of the upcoming charges against him and that's why he started his campaign against the government. She also criticized BHK parliamentarians for joining the protest staged outside the NSS building.

The adviser to the speaker of the parliament David Karapetyan wrote on Facebook that following the National Assembly of Armenia received a petition from the Prosecutor General's Office to institute criminal proceedings against Tsarukyan and to strip him from his parliamentary immunity and to deprive him of his freedom.

On 5 June, Tsarukyan demanded that the Armenian government step down, accusing it of mishandling the coronavirus crisis and its socioeconomic consequences. He went on to call on “healthy” political groups and individuals “concerned about the country's future” to join forces and discuss with him “ways out of the existing situation'” (Caucasus Watch reported).