Armenian opposition MP slams government over growing crime rate

Opposition lawmaker Agnesa Khamoyan has accused the Armenian authorities of prioritizing the silencing of their critics over addressing the country’s growing crime rate.

“You have faked an entire war, what’s a recording for you not to fake?” Khamoyan told the ruling Civil Contract faction MPs at a parliament session on Tuesday.

Addressing Deputy Interior Minister Armen Mkrtchyan, the Hayastan faction MP pointed to the 60% surge in Armenia’s crime rate over the past six years, blaming it on the politicization of law enforcement.

“When it comes to political cases and persecuting opponents, the police show professionalism,” she said. “If they showed the same professionalism in solving real crimes, we wouldn’t have this picture.”

Khamoyan also criticized the government’s claims about advanced surveillance tools. “You boast about drones used by Armenian security forces,” she said. “But where was that drone when an opposition mayor was being murdered and the crime was being planned?”

The MP claimed that while Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan enjoys extensive protection, ordinary citizens are “left defenseless”.

“The government is protected. Nikol Pashinyan is the most protected man in Armenia now. But Armenian citizens have been abandoned,” she said.