On 24 November, Armenian prosecutors appealed against the courts’ decisions to free former National Security Service (NSS) Director and leader of the Fatherland (Hayrenik) political party Artur Vanetsyan and two other opposition figures facing coup charges denied by them.
The prosecutors have asked the Court of Appeals to overturn the lower court decisions regarding Vanetsyan, a member of the former ruling Republican Party (HHK), Vahram Baghdasaryan, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) affiliate Ashot Avagyan and the commander of a volunteer militia Ashot Minasyan. The NSS released audio of Minasyan’s wiretapped phone conversations with Baghdasaryan and Avagyan, during which they blamed the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the unsuccessful war and purportedly discussed ways of assassinating him and seizing power. Baghdasaryan claimed after his release that the recordings were doctored and “taken out of context” by the investigators. Armenia's Special Investigative Service (SIS) launched a criminal case against former head of Armenia’s Ministry of Defence Control Service Movses Hakobyan under Article 308 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (abuse of official powers), following his press conference (Caucasus Watch reported).
The former member of Constitutional Court of Armenia Kim Balayan joined Dashnaktsutyun members Gegham Manukyan and Garik Avetisyan on a hunger strike demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. Meanwhile, Vanetsyan stressed that he had demanded Pashinyan’s resignation in January 2020 and on 8 October he convened a rally with the same demand. “Our aim is not to resume war, we say the defeated leader cannot present our interests… he cannot bring any pro-Armenian point and find any normal solution,” Vanetsyan said.
He also spoke on his time as Armenia’s NSS chief, specifically the protest action of woodcutters in Ijevan in July 2019 after the government issued a logging ban in the area. “Many were criticising what NSS chief [was] doing there. There was a simple reason. On that day I was in Karabakh on a working visit. (Armenia’s former Police Chief) Valery Osipyan called me and said the situation in Ijevan was tense. Then my deputy Eduard Martirosyan called me and said the prime minister instructed us to head to Ijevan with the Alfa squad to beat the people. I told him not to do that as this department is intended for other functions – implementation of anti-terrorist functions. Pashinyan was calling me and Osipyan telling us: break, kill, I want to see rivers of blood,” he stated.
The opposition-minded “Zhokhovurd” newspaper wrote that representatives of opposition parties were actively working with the Russian side, wanting the candidate who builds good working relations with his neighbour to take Pashinyan's chair. The article said that there are currently three people in consideration to head the Armenian opposition movement, namely: Artur Vanetsyan, the Chairman of National Democratic Union party, Armenia’s first Prime Minister after independence Vazgen Manukyan and another former Prime Minister of Armenia and a former member of the Pan-Armenian National Movement Brant Bagratyan.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s Economy Minister Tigran Khachatryan has filed his resignation to the government. The speculated resignation of the country’s Education Minister Arayik Harutunynan also occured, with Vahram Dumanyan named as his successor. The country’s Deputy Defence Minister Gabriel Balayan also submitted his resignation.
As for Pashinyan, he began a series of meetings with representatives of the business community to discuss issues of revitalising the country's economy and restoring the investment climate. Specifically, he met with the head of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia Arsen Ghazaryan, founder of the SIL concern Khachatur Sukiasyan, founder of Alex Holding Samvel Aleksanyan, owner of Sovrano company Arman Sahakyan, owner of Spayka company David Ghazaryan and founder of Menu AM company Vahan Kerobyan. The discussions were focused on strengthening ties between the state and the business community, ensuring the continuation of investment programs and restoring economic optimism.
A day later, Pashinyan met with the parents of the missing servicemen from the war. After the meeting, the parents went in front of Russia’s embassy to Armenia, expressing their dissatisfaction with the meeting with Pashinyan. “We are not satisfied with the meeting with the prime minister. We did not have long meeting with him, about 40-45 questions and answers, after which he said he is hurrying to a meeting relating to our issue. After it all our conversations were with Avinyan and quite long. We raised many issues,” stressed one of the parents.
