Pashinyan lambasts opposition leaders over alleged patronage, vows to dismantle “judicial mafia”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan lambasted opposition leaders Robert Kocharyan, Samvel Karapetyan, and Gagik Tsarukyan during a campaign rally on Wednesday, accusing them of serving the interests of outside patrons and plundering the country.

Pashinyan vowed to dismantle what he described as a "judicial mafia."

He said that former President Robert Kocharyan, the leader of the Armenia Alliance, as well as Strong Armenia Alliance leader and business magnate Samvel Karapetyan and Prosperous Armenia Party President Gagik Tsarukyan, “have never done anything independently in their lives” and are engaged in politics under the patronage of others.

“Those people [Robert Kocharyan, Samvel Karapetyan and Gagik Tsarukyan] who today want to portray themselves as strong or powerful figures have never done anything independently in their lives. They have carried out their entire careers under the patronage of others, and that remains the case today. Robert Kocharyan did not enter politics on his own. Back in 2023, his plea to a foreign country was exposed: ‘You brought me into politics, now I ask you to withdraw me.’ He is involved in politics today because he is not allowed to leave politics.

And yes, he will leave not only politics but also Armenia. He will wear himself out in these elections and, worn out as he will be, end up in prison. We have waited patiently, but together with Robert Kocharyan’s trial, the judicial mafia in Armenia must be uprooted, because for eight years it has spread its wings over Tsarukyan, Kocharyan, and the clan of Samvel of Kaluga. They must spend many years in prison, and the judicial mafia in Armenia must be crushed,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister referred to Karapetyan as “Samvel of Kaluga,” because the tycoon has been based in the Russian city of Kaluga for many years.

The Prime Minister also claimed that Gagik Tsarukyan, acting on someone else's instructions, had placed a foreign agent second on his party’s electoral list. Pashinyan was referring to Andranik Tevanyan. Tevanyan has been charged with espionage and treason. He is currently in pre-trial detention and denies the charges against him as politically motivated.

“He knew he was placing an agent in the number-two spot, and he himself is a foreign agent. Anyone who votes for him is voting for foreign agents. I say this clearly: that man has never said a single independent thing in his life. Don’t be impressed by the muscles; they are little children who need daddies. Today, they have gone looking for patrons abroad and found them because I refused to be their patron. And we must recover, penny by penny, every stolen cent from them—from Tsarukyan, Kocharyan, and Samvel of Kaluga,” Nikol Pashinyan said, stressing that he was not speaking about the future, as this process has already taken place and continues to take place today.

Pashinyan specified that over the past eight years, the Armenian authorities have returned approximately $8 billion in assets and financial resources to the people through various asset-recovery mechanisms.

Pashinyan again denied claims by the Strong Armenia and Armenia alliances that hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis would settle in Armenia if Civil Contract wins, calling them false. 

He said that this fake news is a manifestation of foreign agents’ espionage activities. 

Pashinyan has previously described the political forces of Kocharyan, Karapetyan, and Tsarukyan as the “tripartite war party,” which would trigger a new war if it won the elections. The opposition politicians have denied these accusations.

Karapetyan is currently under house arrest on charges of calling for a coup, which he denies and describes as politically motivated. His nephew, Narek Karapetyan, leads the Strong Armenia alliance list in the elections.