Civil Contract’s Hovik Aghazarian confirmed on Wednesday reports that they circulated a corresponding petition to Pashinian on Tuesday. He said one of the reasons for the move is that Minasian’s father and brother fled Armenia in 2018 to avoid prosecution on corruption charges.
The brother, Mikael Minasian, is a son-in-law of former President Serzh Sarkisian. He enjoyed considerable political and economic influence in Armenia when it was ruled by Sarkisian from 2008-2018.
A vocal critic of Pashinian, Mikael Minasian left Armenia more than a year before being charged with illegal enrichment, false asset disclosure and money laundering in early 2020. Minasian, who is though to have lived in Russia at least until recently, rejected the accusations as politically motivated. Law-enforcement authorities brought more criminal charges against him this summer.
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and his son-in-law Mikael Minasian during a joint public appearance in Yerevan, 07Nov2009.
The Minasians’ father Ara is a renowned surgeon who ran a state hospital in Yerevan until the Armenian Health Ministry accused him of embezzlement in July 2018. He strongly denied the allegations and fled Armenia before being formally indicted in November 2018.
Despite these kinship ties, Pashinian appointed Grigor Minasian as justice minister in December 2022. The latter has claimed to have severed all contact with his fugitive brother and father and pledged full allegiance to the current Armenian government. Many government loyalists have reportedly been unconvinced by Minasian’s assurances.
Pashinian will have to formally discuss with his party’s governing board the petition calling for Minasian’s ouster if it is backed by at least one-third of the 71 parliament deputies representing Civil Contract. According to the Hraparak newspaper, about two dozen of them signed the petition as of Wednesday afternoon.
Minasian is a reputed friend and former business partner of Karen Andreasian, the head of Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council. Over the past two years, the two men have engineered the dismissals of dozens of judges who fell foul of the Armenian authorities. Opposition leaders and legal experts have condemned the sackings as a further blow to judicial independence in the country.