When Nikol Pashinyan came to power in Armenia, ordinary Armenians believed that democratic rule would be established in the country. During the rule of the ‘Karabakh clan,’ the Armenians, who fell to the lowest level of poverty, thought that ‘tomorrow will come.’ The Armenian people, who suffered all kinds of deprivation, pressure and arrests during the previous regime, wanted a peaceful life. Many even expected that this democrat Pashinyan would take real steps to return the occupied Azerbaijani territories and hold constructive talks. That’s because when he was in opposition, he said that the occupied territories of Azerbaijan should be returned. He also insisted on the release of political prisoners held in Armenian prisons during Sargsyan’s rule. Thus, Pashinyan, who came to power, put two strategic lines. First, by pursuing an adventurous policy, he made the 44-day war inevitable, and as a result, put Armenia in a more difficult position, and then didn’t stand by what he said about the issue of political prisoners. Surprisingly, Western human rights organizations, which have listed a distant relative of an opposition figure as a ‘political prisoner’ for ordinary domestic scandals in Azerbaijan, have remained silent on the issue as if nothing had happened. How is it possible to be a ‘political prisoner’ during the rule of Democrat Pashinyan? This is unbelievable.

Faktyoxla Lab. has carried out investigation regarding those who were persecuted and arrested during Pashinyan’s rule.

Neutralization of political rivals

Already in the summer of 2018, just a few months after Pashinyan came to power, pressure and persecution of political rivals and businessmen began. On June 26, the media reported that Armenian police had arrested Alexander Sargsyan, the younger brother of former President Serzh Sargsyan. At the same time, the Armenian Investigative Committee confirmed that law enforcement officers searched the companies "Security Dream" and "Ellipse". According to local media, these companies are owned by Sargsyan and are suspected of illegal financial transactions (Source).

One week before Sargsyan’s arrest, former Deputy Defense Minister, MP, Lieutenant General Manvel Grigoryan was arrested. Grigoryan was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and charged with illegal possession of weapons, especially large-scale embezzlement. In addition to Grigoryan and Sargsyan, Armenian security forces targeted Vachagan Ghazaryan, the first deputy head of the state security service. He was arrested on the same day as Sargsyan and charged with concealing his income.

At the time, Armenian experts described the arrests as a guarantee of political interests. They claimed that Pashinyan was both trying to raise his image and discredit his political rivals by creating an "anti-corruption" image. Following these arrests, parliamentary elections were to be held in the country and Pashinyan was to take full control of the government. Political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan believed that the arrests would deal a major blow to the Republican Party, which has a majority in parliament: “After the arrest of Manvel Grigoryan, it became clear that the Republican Party, to which he belonged, had lost. They no longer have the opportunity to resist” (Source).

The forecast of political scientists was confirmed. Pashinyan defeated his political rivals through repression and secured victory in the parliamentary elections.

The death of an oppositionist from starvation

Moreover, Pashinyan tried to prove at every step that he would be ruthless and would not compromise. He proved his assertiveness in this decision by the death of opposition leader Mher Yeghiazaryan in prison. Mher Yeghiazaryan, deputy chairman of the Armenian Eagles Unified Armenia Party, has been on hunger strike at the Nubarashen prison for a long time. Doctors and experts repeatedly warned that his life was in danger, but to no avail. That is, none of his demands were listened to, and in the end, the opposition politician died in prison on January 26, 2019 (Source). However, the Western "democrats" did not criticize the Pashinyan government.

Despite the silence of the West, Armenian experts themselves acknowledged the sharp violation of democratic principles in Armenia. Samvel Matevosyan, a well-known Armenian expert on IT security, said that the Armenian government has started using various spy programs to track people. The expert shared this information with reference to Meta-Facebook and the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto. He said that the Armenian government is integrating the spyware of the Macedonian company Cytrox into phones in various ways to monitor political activists and the opposition. Earlier, several Armenian opposition political leaders said they had received a warning from Apple about the installation of Pegasus tracking software on their iPhones. (Source)

Neutralization of a billionaire member of the opposition

Pashinyan has arrested Gagik Tsarukyan, the billionaire chairman of the Prosperous Armenia party, the largest parliamentary opposition, on very absurd charges. "The arrest of Gagik Tsarukyan is open political revenge and he is a political prisoner," reads a statement issued by the Political Council of the Prosperous Armenia party. The court, presided over by Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan, illegally arrested Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, but did not provide any substantiated evidence of how he had obstructed the investigation four months after the charges were brought.

"What happened is undoubtedly the largest parliamentary opposition and political revenge against the party leader. It is clear that Tsarukyan is now a political prisoner. Two and a half years after the revolution, the government led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan failed in all areas and with the help of a political vendetta trying to silence the opposition,” the statement said. The party said in a statement that Tsarukyan's arrest warrant had been issued by the authorities. It was noted that today Armenia faces serious problems. An incompetent government has dragged the country into a social catastrophe. Prosperous Armenia will continue to fight together with like-minded political forces: “No one will be able to intimidate and silence us, we will definitely have a new quality of government. All participants in this shameful and cheap revenge against Tsarukyan will be punished by law. This will happen very soon” (Source).

Tsarukyan was accused of large-scale tax evasion, bribery of voters and embezzlement of large plots of land. In June last year, his property was searched by National Security Service officers. Parliament decided to strip him of his parliamentary immunity.

Democratic government’s hunt for deputies

On December 10 last year, the Armenian Constitutional Court released three opposition deputies from the Hayastan bloc - well-known surgeon, Professor Armen Charchyan, former mayor of Sisyan region Artur Sargsyan and Mkhitar Zakaryan. The Constitutional Court declared their arrest illegal: a deputy cannot be arrested without the consent of parliament. The decision of the Constitutional Court was made on the basis of the appeal of Aram Vardevanyan, a member of parliament from the same political force (Source).

Opposition groups named this a "political persecution" of members of the bloc. The charges were brought against them during the early parliamentary elections on June 20, 2021. At the time, these deputies were actively campaigning, sharply criticizing the ruling party and its leader, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The opposition claimed that the arrest of all three deputies was a violation of the law, as none of them had been deprived of parliamentary immunity. The authorities said that the criminal case was opened before they became deputies - with the consent of the Central Election Commission. Therefore, there is no need to obtain the consent of parliament.

Terror show

The "repression machine" didn’t stop even after that. As a result of his adventurous policy, Pashinyan launched the 44-day war. After signing the act of capitulation, his reputation was completely damaged. So, there was a need for a new plan and new scapegoats. Immediately after the war, Pashinyan started talking about a "terrorist plan" against him. The National Security Service of Armenia reported that the assassination of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the usurpation of power were prevented. According to this plan, four people were detained at the initial stage - former head of the National Security Service, chairman of the Fatherland Party Artur Vanetsyan, commander of the Sisian Volunteer Group Ashot Minasyan, former MP and former leader of the Republican Party Vahram Baghdasaryan, and a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. (Source).

Lawyers described the arrests as follows: “Political, anti-national persecution is moving to the next, more horrific stage. It is no longer possible to interpret all this in any legal way. This is a shameful political persecution aimed at seizing power by any means, carrying out anti-government programs and handing over the country to the enemy” (Source).

Sacrificing own staff

But even such a plan did not change the image of Pashinyan, who suffered a humiliating defeat in the war. So, a new sacrifice had to be made. The victim was from Pashinyan’s own team - David Tonoyan. On September 30, 2021, the former minister of defense was arrested. He was accused of embezzling large sums of money. According to the National Security Service, Tonoyan, along with David Galstyan, the head of a company that supplies weapons to the Armenian army, embezzled about $4.7 million. (Source).

Repression against legitimate mayors

Despite all the plans, Pashinyan’s reputation could not be raised. His party also lost local elections. Now there is a greater shame. Pashinyan’s government is preventing the opposition, which won the local elections, from starting to work. On January 4, it was reported that Armenian law enforcement agencies tried to violate the inauguration of Vardenis Mayor Agaron Khachatryan. The ruling Civil Contract party won 46.11 percent of the vote in Vardenis. However, in order to be declared the winner, it is necessary to collect more than 50 percent of the votes.

The other two political forces, the Agaron Khachatryan Bloc and the United Vardenis, received 37.36% and 16.51% of the vote, respectively. According to Article 142.2 of the Armenian Election Code, when none of the political forces is able to get more than 50% of the votes, an open vote is held among the candidates who led the election lists of the parties or blocs that crossed the barrier. The winning candidate is elected chairman. After the December 5 elections, opposition forces signed a memorandum on the formation of a coalition, thus gaining the necessary number of seats to elect their candidate as mayor.

The first meeting of the Council of Elders was held on December 30, 2021, and Agaron Khachatryan was elected mayor. Representatives of the ruling Civil Contract party boycotted the meeting and filed a lawsuit in the Administrative Court. Of course, Pashinyan chose this tactic because he knows that his party’s candidate will not win. Now he is preventing the legitimate mayor from taking office. Agaron Khachatryan had to take an oath in the open air (Source).

Pashinyan cannot accept the defeat in the mayoral election in Vanadzor, the country's third largest city. Thus, the mayor Mamikon Aslanyan, who won the elections on December 5, was detained and taken to the Investigative Committee. The statement came from spokesman for the organization Vardan Tadevosyan. Aslanyan is accused of abuse of office, forgery for personal gain and a number of other socially dangerous crimes.

The investigation revealed that Aslanyan changed the use of a number of land plots. He changed the purpose of community lands to construction sites for energy, communications and utilities infrastructure (Source).

Aslanyan was removed from office before the elections and was replaced on October 12 by Vanik Ohanyan, representing the ruling Civil Contract party. Aslanyan called the decision illegal, saying that the head of the city administration is elected and the law prohibits his dismissal. Apparently, the law isn’t important for Pashinyan. However, despite these obstacles, Aslanyan won the December elections. After that, Pashinyan had no choice but to arrest him.

Punishing undesirable people

On the last day of last year, December 31, a protest campaign was held near the building of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia in support of the commander of the "Sisakan" group Ashot Minasyan. Ashot Minasyan was detained in November 2020 as a result of an operation conducted by the Armenian National Security Service. He was arrested along with other people suspected of plotting to assassinate Nikol Pashinyan and seize power. However, as it was not possible to prove this accusation, all the suspects were released by a court decision. A year later, on December 1, the appellate court upheld the prosecutor's appeal and arrested Minasyan. Human rights activists called his arrest a political decision.

Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan said that the society should remember the people persecuted by the government for their political views. He reminded that not only Minasyan, but also Garnik Isagulyan, Mamikon Aslanyan, Arush Arushanyan are subjected to political persecution.

"The court is not important for these people, the Constitution is not important for these people. They arrest everyone," said Aram Varjanyan, a member of the Hayastan parliamentary faction and a constitutional expert.

Ruben Melikyan, co-founder of the Path of Law NGO, said there was no reason for Minasyan to be detained.

Minasyan's lawyer Migran Pogosyan said that on December 28, the criminal prosecution on charges of plotting to assassinate Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and seizing power was terminated. However, his client is still accused of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition (Source).

Apparently, Pashinyan’s "repression machine" is working hard by violating all democratic principles. However, the democratic West turns a blind eye to it. It turns out that democratic values ​​for the West are the way how Armenia is governed. Perhaps this is why people's faith in democratic values ​​is declining around the world. Double standards are the worst weapon against democratic values.