YEREVAN (Azatutyan.am) — A maverick opposition politician was arrested and charged with calling for a violent overthrow of Armenia’s government at the weekend [on July 18] after saying that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan must be “thrown out” of office.
The charges brought against Ruben Hakobyan and denied by him stem from his July 1 interview with a pro-opposition TV channel in which he strongly condemned a recent wave of arrests of opposition activists and other vocal critics of Pashinyan.
“If he [Pashinyan] doesn’t resign, then yes, grab him by the ears and … throw him out,” said Hakobyan.
He accused the premier of systematically violating Armenia’s constitution and laws and said Armenians have therefore a legitimate right to revolt against their government. He defended two archbishops arrested last month amid Pashinyan’s campaign against the top clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
One of the archbishops, Mikael Ajapahyan, is also prosecuted for publicly advocating “the seizure of power.” The same accusation was brought against billionaire Samvel Karapetyan who was arrested on June 18 just hours after condemning Pashinyan’s campaign and pledging to defend the church “in our own way.”
