According to multiple media outlets, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian texted such orders to Hovik Aghazarian and another parliament deputy from his Civil Contract party, Narek Zeynalian, as well as six senior state officials on Sunday. The officials resigned the following morning while Zeynalian followed suit two days later. Aghazarian has refused to quit so far.
The effectively sacked officials included Argishti Kyaramian, the head of Armenia’s Investigative Committee who clashed with Aghazarian during a parliamentary hearing in Yerevan last month. The two men insulted each other and nearly came to blows on the parliament floor. Kyaramian’s behavior was denounced by other Civil Contract deputies, including Zeynalian.
Aghazarian was summoned on Thursday to another law-enforcement body, the Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC), interrogated by its investigators for almost five hours and had his mobile phone confiscated by them.
Armenia - Argishti Kyaramian, head of the Investigative Committee, gives a speech in Yerevan, October 11, 2024.
“The process of the phone’s confiscation took just over an hour,” Aghazarian told journalists on Friday.
“I cannot give details of the interrogation,” he said. “That is not allowed.”
Aghazarian confirmed only that he was questioned in connection with Kyaramian’s claims that he was twice asked by unnamed intermediaries to stop criminal proceedings against Aghazarian’s son involved in sales of second-hand cars. The lawmaker again denied any such intervention that could be deemed an abuse of power.
Aghazarian also said that he still does not intend to resign from the National Assembly and will “fight” instead to prove his innocence. He said he will quit only if the investigators prove the opposite. He did not rule out the possibility of his indictment, something which would have to be allowed by the parliament controlled by Civil Contract.
News reports said that members of the ruling party’s governing board told Aghazarian to give up his parliament seat during a meeting on Tuesday chaired by Pashinian. Aghazarian denied those reports.
Armenia - Deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party talk on the parliament floor, Yerevan, March 1, 2023.
The 64-year-old deputy was already questioned by the ACC on Monday in a separate criminal investigation into Armenian businessmen exporting livestock to the United Arab Emirates. He is suspected of illegal influence peddling for them. ACC officials conducting the probe will again ask him questions on Saturday.
The ACC chief, Sasun Khachatrian, and the head of a powerful body overseeing Armenian courts, Karen Andreasian, were also among the officials forced out on Monday. Critics of the Armenian government say their de facto sackings show that Pashinian controls the law-enforcement and judicial bodies in breach of laws guaranteeing their independence. They say Pashinian’s reported pressure on Aghazarian and Zeynalian also constitutes a violation of the Armenian constitution which protects parliamentarians against any outside influence.
The resignations were announced just days after Pashinian publicly lamented a continuing lack of “justice” in the country. They were widely construed as being part of his efforts to boost his flagging popularity before general elections expected in June 2026 or earlier.
“Dear representatives of the judicial and security system, my patience has run out,” the premier said during a cabinet meeting on November 15.