RFE/RL Armenian Report – 12/22/2020

                                        Tuesday, 


Armenian Mayor Freed But Indicted

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L), Goris Mayor Arush 
Arushanian (C) and other officials walk through the center of the town, 
September 12, 2020.

A court in Yerevan ordered a law-enforcement agency on Tuesday to release the 
mayor of the Armenian town of Goris who was arrested after calling for civil 
disobedience against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Nevertheless, the Investigative Committee leveled a string of criminal charges 
against the 29-year-old mayor, Arush Arushanian. It also asked the court to 
remand him in pre-trial custody.

Arushanian was among the heads of more than a dozen communities in Armenia’s 
southeastern Syunik province who issued earlier this month statements condemning 
Pashinian’s handling of the war with Azerbaijan and demanding his resignation. 
They accused him of putting Syunik’s security at grave risk with Armenian troop 
withdrawals completed over the weekend.

Arushanian urged Goris residents late on Sunday to block a regional highway and 
not allow Pashinian to visit Syunik. He was arrested several hours later.

It emerged afterwards that Arushanian is suspected of organizing an illegal 
gathering. The Investigative Committee said he is also a suspect in several 
criminal investigations conducted by it.

Arushanian’s lawyer and supporters said that the arrest is politically 
motivated. The lawyer, Armen Melkonian, challenged it in court.

The Yerevan court found the Arushanian’s arrest unjustified and ordered his 
release.

“This is a political persecution,” Arushanian told reporters after being set 
free.

The mayor defended the road blockade that forced Pashinian to cut short a visit 
to Syunik on Monday. “That man has no right to enter Syunik because he has 
handed over territory defended by the people of Syunik and vital for their 
security to the enemy,” he said.

Shortly after the court order, the Investigative Committee said that Arushanian 
has been formally charged with organizing the unsanctioned protest, abusing his 
powers, engaging in illegal business activity and violent assault, and violating 
environmental protection norms. It did not say whether the investigators will 
ask the court to remand the mayor in pre-trial custody.

Melkonian described the accusations as “laughable” while saying he is not yet 
familiar with their details.



Armenian Opposition Resumes Anti-Government Protests (UPDATED)

        • Gayane Saribekian
        • Astghik Bedevian
        • Artak Khulian

Armenia -- Opposition supporters rally at Yerevan's Republic Square to demand 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation, .

Thousands of people poured into Yerevan’s main square on Tuesday as the Armenian 
opposition tried to intensify its campaign for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s 
resignation.

Leaders of a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties said they will 
hold daily demonstrations until Pashinian agrees to hand over power to an 
interim government tasked with holding snap parliamentary elections within a 
year.

“We must take the whole state system away from Nikol Pashinian as a result of 
sustained, consistent and well-organized efforts,” one of them, Ishkhan 
Saghatelian, told the crowd demonstrating at the city’s Republic Square where 
the main government building is located.

Vazgen Manukian, who has been nominated by the opposition National Salvation 
Movement as a caretaker prime minister, urged Armenia’s armed forces and police 
to stop executing Pashinian’s orders and “join the people.” “Switch to our side 
so that we solve the issue today,” he said.

At Saghatelian’s urging, some of the protesters chanting “Nikol traitor” 
surrounded the nearby building of the prime minister’s office guarded by several 
rows of riot police.

A group of other protesters walked to another building that houses several 
government ministries. They briefly scuffled with riot police there.

The opposition leaders went on to give the Armenian parliament’s pro-government 
majority until 6 p.m. to meet with them and discuss their demands. Lawmakers 
representing Pashinian’s My Step bloc ignored the offer.

One of those lawmakers, Maria Karapetian, said the ruling bloc will not meet any 
of the opposition demands. She claimed that the snap polls sought by the 
opposition would be held by “election falsifiers” if Pashinian were to resign 
now.

The opposition responded by pledging to step up the pressure on the 
parliamentary majority. “If they are not conscious of the popular demand then we 
have to force a session of the parliament,” Saghatelian said in another speech 
delivered at Republic Square later in the day.

The organizers pitched tents in the sprawling square for protesters willing to 
spend the night there.


Armenia -- Opposition supporters rally at Yerevan's Republic Square to demand 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation, .

The opposition forces hold Pashinian responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat 
in the recent war with Azerbaijan and say he is not capable of confronting new 
security challenges facing Armenia. Their demands for his resignation and the 
formation of an interim government have been backed by President Armen 
Sarkissian, the Armenian Apostolic Church and prominent public figures in 
Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora.

In a statement issued earlier on Tuesday, Pashinian again made clear that he has 
no intention to step down. He portrayed the ongoing anti-government protests as 
a revolt by the country’s “elites” that lost their “privileges” when he swept to 
power in 2018.

Karapetian rejected any parallels between the ongoing anti-government protests 
and the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” “This is an attempt to use democratic 
instruments against democracy and we will not allow that,” she said.

The opposition alliance called last week for a general strike and boycott of 
university classes for December 22. It was not immediately clear how many 
Armenians heeded the appeal.

At least one major highway was reportedly blocked by opposition supporters on 
Tuesday afternoon.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic Armenian universities switched back to online 
classes in October.

In statements issued in recent days, the deans and professors of 11 of the 19 
departments of Yerevan State University (YSU) backed the opposition campaign of 
civil disobedience. The deans included Naghash Martirosian of YSU’s Journalist 
Department.

Martirosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the department’s ongoing exam 
session was not interrupted on Tuesday. He said the department statement in 
support of the opposition was a largely symbolic move designed to “demonstrate 
our concerns over the existing uncertainties” in the country.

YSU’s Physics Department did not add its voice to the opposition demands for 
Pashinian’s resignation. The department dean, Rafik Hakobian, said he believes 
it must steer clear of political processes.

Several other Armenian universities likewise avoided openly backing the 
opposition. But they made clear that their employees are free to go on strike 
and join the protests.



Pashinian Continues To Claim Popular Support


Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visits the town of Sisian, 
.

Amid continuing opposition protests in Yerevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
on Tuesday insisted that he still enjoys popular support and that his 
resignation is primarily sought by Armenia’s “elite” overthrown by him in 2018.

Pashinian claimed that opposition and other groups trying to topple him in the 
aftermath of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh are pitting themselves against “the 
people.”

“The ‘elite’ that lost power in Armenia as a result of the 2018 revolution is 
trying to take revenge,” he wrote on Facebook. “And we are talking about not 
only the political elite but also all those who had privileges until 2018 and 
have not had them since 2018.”

“Thus the real confrontation is not between the government and the opposition 
but between the people and the ‘elite’ that lost privileges in 2018,” he said, 
adding that it is up to “the people” to decide whether he should stay in power.

Pashinian issued the statement shortly before a coalition of more than a dozen 
Armenian opposition parties resumed demonstrations in Yerevan aimed at forcing 
him to hand over power to an interim government that would hold snap 
parliamentary elections within a year.


Armenia -- Opposition supporters rally in Yerevan's Republic Square to demand 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation, .

The parties making up the ad hoc Homeland Salvation Movement called last week 
for a general strike and boycott of university classes for December 22. One of 
their leaders said it will be “the most decisive day” of their push for regime 
change.

The opposition forces hold Pashinian responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat 
in the war and say he is not capable of confronting new security challenges 
facing Armenia. Their demands for his resignation and the formation of an 
interim government have been backed by President Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian 
Apostolic Church and prominent public figures in Armenia and its worldwide 
Diaspora.

Pashinian faced angry protests on Monday as he headed to Armenia’s southeastern 
Syunik province in hopes of reassuring local residents seriously concerned about 
their security following Armenian troop withdrawals from Azerbaijani districts 
adjacent to Syunik. The protests forced him to cut short the visit.

Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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