YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sought to justify on May 22 the arrest of a grief-stricken woman accused of attempting to “kidnap” his son which has sparked street protests and widespread condemnation in Armenia.
Gayane Hakobyan, whose son Zhora Martirosian was killed during the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, was detained last Wednesday after an argument with Ashot Pashinyan. Citing the latter’s testimony, Armenia’s Investigative Committee said that Hakobyan tricked the young man into getting into her car after she ran into him outside a court building in Yerevan.
The younger Pashinyan jumped out of the car shortly after Hakobyan drove it towards the Yerablur Military Pantheon, according to the law-enforcement agency.
Hakobyan strongly denies the accusations, carrying between four and eight years in prison. Her lawyers say she simply wanted to talk to the 23-year-old.
A Yerevan court approved her pre-trial detention on Saturday, May 20, triggering an angry demonstration attended by several dozen other parents of fallen soldiers and hundreds of their sympathizers. The parents announced afterwards a non-stop sit-in outside the prime minister’s office in the city’s central Republic Square.
The protest continued on May 22 as Nikol Pashinyan held a news conference amid tightened security in and around the building.
