Latest news with #Dashnaktsutyun
India Today
10-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
7 Armenian opposition figures arrested on suspicion of terrorism
Police in Armenia arrested seven people associated with a pro-Russian opposition party on suspicion of terrorism following a slew of raids on their homes on Thursday amid a wider government crackdown ahead of parliamentary people are affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), also known as Dashnaktsutyun, a group part of the pro-Russian parliamentary coalition headed by Robert Kocharyan, a former president of the South Caucasus Investigative Committee said police had arrested seven individuals and charged one of them with preparing a terrorist act. Reuters was not able to determine the identities of all seven of the people. ARF said in a statement that raids were ongoing at several MPs' homes as of early Thursday morning and that at least one politician and the son of another had been arrests follow criminal indictments levied earlier this week against three politicians of the Armenia Alliance, the larger umbrella coalition of which the Armenian Revolutionary Federation is a groups have decried the investigations as politically arrests come on the same day as a meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi, where the two are working to finalise a peace agreement to end nearly four decades of who swept to power during street protests in 2018, has brought Armenia closer to the West and distanced the country from traditional ally recent weeks have seen a widespread clampdown on Pashinyan's political rivals and critics, including opposition figures, a leading Christian cleric and a former prominent figures in Armenia, including the cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, are accused of orchestrating a coup to usurp power, something they deny.- EndsTrending Reel
Russia Today
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Armenian opposition lawmaker arrested
An Armenian court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of opposition lawmaker Artur Sarkisyan on charges of participating in a conspiracy to stage a violent coup. The move is seen as part of a broader crackdown by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government against his critics. Sarkisyan, a member of the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party, was placed in pretrial detention for two months, one day after the parliament revoked his legal immunity. He dismissed the allegations as a mischaracterization of his involvement in recent mass anti-government protests. Since 2024, the Caucasus country has witnessed a wave of demonstrations largely connected to the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC). Protesters have accused the Pashinyan government of compromising national interests in its dealings with neighboring Azerbaijan, a longtime rival. Authorities recently detained two AAC bishops and businessman Samvel Karapetyan, accusing them of orchestrating the alleged coup plot. The government has also moved to nationalize Karapetyan's energy assets. On Thursday, law enforcement reportedly searched multiple properties linked to Dashnaktsutyun figures, detaining Arsen Martoyan, head of the party's Yerevan city committee, along with the son of another opposition MP, Gegam Manukyan. The Kremlin has called the unrest in Armenia a domestic issue and has said Russia should not get involved. Moscow has offered legal support to Karapetyan, a dual Russian citizen, if he requests it. This week, an appeals court upheld Karapetyan's pretrial detention, originally imposed in mid-July. Pashinyan came to power following a wave of anti-government protests in 2018 that pressured his predecessor, Serzh Sargsyan, to resign. His current term as prime minister is set to expire next summer, when Armenians are scheduled to vote in parliamentary elections.
