Chamber of Advocates 'preparing impeachment process' against Pashinyan

The chiarman of the Chamber of Advocates on Tuesday announced a plan for initiating an impeachment proceeding against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government.

Ara Zohrabyan said they will be heading to the Prosecutor General's Office from the National Assembly this afternoon to submit two documents substantiating their claim.

"One is an appeal directed to those members of the National Assembly, who had the status of advocates. We will urge them to quit the [ruling] My Step bloc to act as independent MPs. The other is a call directed to the NA and the NA president with a demand for lifting the martial law to initiate an impeachment process against the prime minister," he told the participants of the march.

Zohrabyan said he thinks that many of the lawmakers who still stand by Pashinyan are "isolated from the reality" dominated by the belief that the incumbent prime minister "maintains real power".

He cited outcomes of recent studies revealing "elements of treachery" subject to examination by the Prosecutor General's Office. Zohrabyan said that many attorneys have joined their strike declared on Tuesday morning, refusing to participate in either the scheduled court hearings or investigative operations.

Addressing the arrest and detention of Arush Arushanyan, the mayor of the southern city of Goris, Zohrabyan described the proceeding against him as a political persecution (though admitted that he is not properly familiar with the case). In his words, the criminal proceeding was instituted  after Arushanyan's statement announcing a decision not to let the prime minister "to step into the city".