YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The Armenian parliament decided to postpone consideration of the issue of depriving Armenia’s former Minister of the Interior–Vano Siradeghian–of his parliamentary mandate.
Siradeghian–who was Armenia’s interior minister from 1992 up to 1996–is accused of ordering a number of high profile contract killings. He fled the country after parliament decided to lift his parliamentary immunity earlier this year to allow for his criminal prosecution.
According to parliamentary regulations–a deputy can be deprived of his mandate if he does not present parliament’s leadership with an explanation of his failure to regularly attend parliamentary sessions. Parliament speaker Armen Khachatrian said that Vano Siradeghian has missed 247 of the 264 votes held recently. However–Khachatrian stated that according to regulations–the issue should be discussed in the presence of Siradeghian himself. If he fails to turn up twice in a month for discussion on the issue–then parliament has the right to adopt a decision in his absence.
