Parliament Strips Immunity of Opposition Leaders After Pashinyan Pledged to Purge Legislature

Armenia’s Parliament voted on Monday to strip two opposition leaders of their immunity based on a request from the country’s prosecutor-general that followed a pledge by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to purge the legislature of opposition lawmakers.

The parliament vote on Monday targeted the head of the opposition Hayastan alliance Seyran Ohanyan and fellow faction member, Artsvik Minasyan, who is also a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

In the final count, 59 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion, while the opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem factions boycotted the vote.

The vote followed an appeal by Prosecutor-General Anna Vardapetyan, who on Friday asked lawmakers to strip the immunity of the two lawmakers, in order for her office to launch a criminal investigation.

Ohanyan was Armenia’s defense minister under President Serzh Sarkissian, while Minasyan served as the country’s Environmental Protection Minister.

The Prosecutor General has accused Ohanyan of unlawfully acquiring a a plot of land near Lake Sevan, which has been designated as a nature reserve within the Sevan National Park. He was also accused of building a private residence without approval and of not declaring ownership of the house since becoming a member of parliament in 2021.

Ohanyan was also accused of allegedly receiving 58 million drams ($151,000) in bribes during his term as defense minister for “providing illegal advantages in the ministry’s procurement processes.”

Minasyan was accused of allegedly facilitating Ohanyan’s land acquisition in his role as environment minister.

Minasyan allegedly did not take measures to “mitigate the consequences” of Ohanyan’s violations, and did not “ensure the application of legal accountability measures” against him, thereby causing significant damage to the state, the prosecutor-general said on Friday.

The two opposition leaders have denied the accusations and have termed prosecutor-general’s request as part of the ongoing “purge” demanded by Pashinyan when he addressed parliament recently.

While addressing lawmakers in parliament in May, Pashinyan lost his temper after opposition lawmakers accused of lacking the “political will” to his own party members acceptable for corruption.

In response he lashed out at opposition lawmakers, accusing them of being corrupt and called them “foreign agents.”

Both Ohanyan and Minasyan considered the cases launched against them to be ‘criminal instructions’ from Pashinyan.

Another member of the Hayastan faction and the chair of the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia Ishkhan Saghatelyan countered the prosecutor-general’s accusations, telling reporters on Friday that her appeal was merely fulfilling Pashinyan’s vendetta against the opposition.

“A month ago, Nikol Pashinyan gave very succinct instructions to the prosecutor in the chambers of the National Assembly, and this is the consequence of that,” Saghatelyan told reporters. “And, today, the prosecutor-general, in her capacity of his [Pashinyan’s] adviser, is carrying out another illegal instruction from Nikol Pashinyan.”

“The prosecutor-general continues to remain as Nikol Pashinyan’s adviser. Instead of protecting state interests, she is exclusively protecting Nikol Pashinyan and his government. She should not have charged Artsvik Minasyan, but should have proceeded with Artsvik Minasyan’s report on Nikol Pashinyan’s treason case,” Saghatelyan said on Friday.

Saghatelyan said that he is convinced that the authorities will seek to widen the crackdown against opposition activists and leaders, vowing that none of the leaders, who were charged and remanded last week, had committed illegal acts.

He called the efforts a “show” being staged by the Pashinyan administration, in order to divert the public’s attention from the more important challenges and matters facing Armenia.