Armenian Police Colonel Sayat Shirinyan rejected the charges brought against him as politically motivated, as the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction continued hearings in his case on Wednesday.
Shirinyan, who is a member of the opposition Hayastan alliance, has been charged with "publicly calling for violence" against the Armenian leaders.
“This is outright political persecution,” he told reporters before the hearing, saying he had been repeatedly warned against criticizing Nikol Pashinyan.
Shirinyan says the law enforcement authorities clearly realize that “certain political processes” will start in the near future.
"The change of power has kind of gotten underway. I think that in the near future everyone will witness it,” he stated, adding political activists are now being “neutralized” in the country.
The oppositionist charged that the law enforcement agencies have become a “tool in the hands of the current authorities”. “They have lost their dignity and self-esteem,” he said.