The outspoken lawmaker, Hovik Aghazarian, was one of seven officials, including Armenia’s top judicial officer, whom Pashinian told to resign in text messages sent last November. He was the only one who turned down the “request.”
In the following weeks, Aghazarian found himself under criminal investigation and had his personal communication controversially accessed by Pashinian and disclosed to other senior Civil Contract figures. The party expelled him from its ranks on December 3.
Pashinian declared the following day that he must be prosecuted and stripped of his seat. Aghazarian has remained defiant since then, setting up his own party and pledging to strive to unseat the premier.
Last week, Prosecutor-General Anna Vardapetian formally asked the Armenian parliament to allow law-enforcement authorities to charge Aghazarian with two counts of bribery and influence peddling. The National Assembly controlled by Civil Contract is expected to discuss the petition on March 25.
Aghazarian said he is almost certain that his pro-government colleagues will vote to lift his immunity from prosecution on what he called baseless and politically motivated charges. He promised to make important “revelations” on the parliament floor. He said he will speak up even if he risks being arrested as well.
“I’m going to say what I want to say,” Aghazarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “I’ll say it even if I’m in jail.”
“I am subjected to political pressures because I didn’t give up my [parliament] seat,” claimed the 65-year-old. “The prime minister and his political team think that it was a blow to the government’s authority. The second reason [for the prosecutor’s motion] is to rein in some of my former partners.”
Opposition figures and other critics of the Armenian government likewise believe that the authorities are cracking down on Aghazarian because Pashinian wants to keep a tight rein on his party and discourage its other members from revolting against his arbitrary decisions.
“If Hovik Aghazarian had given up his seat, resigned or remained a member of Civil Contract, the prosecutor-general would have never come up with such a motion,” said Anna Grigorian, a parliament deputy from the opposition Hayastan alliance.
The prosecutor claimed in her petition that a private developer paid Aghazarian a $23,000 kickback in exchange for his pledge to help it receive a construction permit in Yerevan. Also, he allegedly demanded in 2023 at least $200,000 from two other entrepreneurs who wanted to circumvent government regulations for the export of livestock from Armenia.
A founding member of Civil Contract, Aghazarian actively participated in the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought Pashinian to power. He strongly supported the premier until their falling-out.