Sarkissian, in office since 2018, announced his resignation in a written statement released late on Sunday. He attributed the move to the fact that the Armenian constitution gives the president of the republic mainly ceremonial powers.
Hetq.am, an independent investigative publication, claimed on Monday that Sarkissian stepped down because it emerged that he violated a constitutional provision stipulating that the president must have been a citizen of only Armenia for at least six years preceding their election by the parliament.
The publication said that an ongoing investigation conducted by it jointly with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an international watchdog, has revealed that Sarkissian was a citizen of the Caribbean island country of Saint Kitts and Nevis “not long before being elected president in March 2018.”
It said that in written comments to Hetq.am Sarkissian asserted that he had automatically gained that citizenship in return for investing in a local hotel a decade ago. He said he instructed his lawyers to hand back his passport to authorities in Saint Kitts and Nevis shortly before being appointed as Armenia’s ambassador to Britain in 2013.
According to the report, Sarkissian claimed to have discovered in 2017 that the lawyers failed to fulfill his wish. He said he then made sure he does not have that citizenship anymore.
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (R) meets with Armenian Ambassador to Britain Armen Sarkissian in Yerevan, 19Jan2018.
Hetq.am noted that Sarkissian answered its questions during a visit to the United Arab Emirates which he wrapped up on January 18.
The presidential press office announced at the end of the trip that Sarkissian is going on a “short vacation” to undergo a “necessary medical examination.” He is believed to have flown to another foreign country without returning to Armenia.
The office did not comment on the report on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Armenian prosecutors told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that they have told the National Security Service (NSS) to “verify” the information contained in the report. He said this will be done “within the framework” of a criminal case opened by prosecutors last May.
That inquiry was launched following renewed allegations that Sarkissian, who lived in the United Kingdom for nearly three decades before returning to Armenia in 2018, remained a British national after 2011. Law-enforcement authorities have still not released any details of the probe.
The 68-year-old president has insisted all along that he renounced his British citizenship in 2011.