The Armenian police claimed to have found 11.5 grams of marijuana in a car driven by the official, Armen Markosian, when they pulled him over on Monday. Markosian was charged with possessing the banned substance but cleared of trafficking it before being released from custody on Wednesday.
Movsisian, who is a member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, insisted on Thursday that his vacation has nothing to do with the embarrassing prosecution of his subordinate.
“I planned my vacation before these events and had to use up [legally available vacation days] before the end of the year,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Sudden vacations of Armenian government officials have often been a prelude to their sacking or resignation. Citing unnamed “government sources,” the Yerevan newspaper Hraparak reported that Pashinian is “furious with Movsisian” and may fire him.
The governor said that he has received no resignation orders from the prime minister and plans to return to work. But he added: “I’m a member of the [ruling] party and political team and I will work anywhere the prime minister finds necessary.”
It remained unclear whether his indicted assistant will plead guilty to the accusation. Movsisian said he is still awaiting the results of a drug test taken by Markosian.
Markosian’s arrest was followed by the mysterious resignation of the police chief of Ashtarak, the administrative center of Aragatsotn. The Armenian Interior Ministry said the resignation is not connected with Markosian’s prosecution.
The provincial governor suggested on Monday that his subordinate may have been arrested because of having a “tense” personal rapport with the police chief. But he denied such a connection the following day.
Movsisian is not the first senior member of Pashinian’s party to have faced drug suspicions. The head of the party’s Gyumri chapter, Karen Sarukhanian, found himself in hot water last month after two men linked to him were detained by the Gyumri police on suspicion of possessing drugs. Newspaper reports said that Pashinian ordered him to take a drug test and that it came back positive.
Sarukhanian insisted afterwards that he took the test at his own initiative and that it on the contrary proved that he is not a drug addict. He accused unnamed “scheming” members of the ruling party of trying to discredit him.