Imagine how meager the political ideas of the ruling representatives are if their entire rhetoric is built upon a false dilemma: "everyone is either a corrupt person or a defender of corrupt people, and we are the alternative to corruption,' 'everyone is either a terrorist or a defender of terrorism, and we are its alternative."

Let me remind you: when Bishop Bagrat was arrested, deputies from the Civil Contract party made dozens of social media posts, went on all possible airwaves, and declared within a few hours that they had allegedly uncovered a terrorist group. In the same context, they accused all opposition political forces of supporting terrorism, instilling the idea in the public mind that "all opposition members are terrorists."

Yet, the matter concerned an alleged crime that still had to be investigated, and therefore, the principle of presumption of innocence, enshrined in our Constitution and the European Convention, should have been observed. But all of this was cynically discarded.

Then the noise died down, and it turned out that the recordings had been fabricated. No one apologized, and the case will drag on in the courts for a long time.

Thus, it is not excluded that the case of Bishop Bagrat and others will turn out to be fabricated. However, at the time, using this case as a pretext, they tried to tarnish the entire opposition field through propaganda and manipulation.

Something very similar happened yesterday. An audio recording (which still has to be subjected to investigation) appeared on the internet, according to which the Mayor of Gyumri, Vardan Ghukasyan, allegedly demanded a bribe. Naturally, Ghukasyan was not sent a notification (a summons) - instead, a now-familiar "mask show" (a highly visible, forceful police operation) was staged: the Mayor of Gyumri and a group of other individuals were detained.

And once again, deputies of the Civil Contract party - led by the head of the faction and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament—began loudly proclaiming: 'look, our alternative is corrupt people,' calling people scoundrels, insulting, and blatantly speculating with the names of all opposition figures. Just as in the previous case, when everyone was portrayed as terrorists or accomplices to terrorists, now, according to their logic, all opposition members without exception are either corrupt people or support corrupt people.

Soon this noise will also die down, and it may turn out that the Ghukasyan case is also fabricated. But the point is not in this, but in another attempt to lump everyone together.

To summarize: In the Republic of Armenia, law enforcement agencies must be independent and act guided solely by the law, and not selectively - to serve political whims. We are resolutely determined to establish this principle in our country.