Pashinyan announces legal action against Samvel Karapetyan over psychedelic mushroom claims

Armenpress

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday that he would file a defamation lawsuit against business tycoon and Strong Armenia party leader Samvel Karapetyan after the latter questioned the credibility of the prime minister’s statements, claiming he uses “hallucinogenic mushrooms.”

Karapetyan, who is leading the Strong Armenia party in the June 7 elections, held a press conference on Thursday and alleged that Pashinyan, according to his information, had brought “one ton of hallucinogenic mushrooms” from China, which he allegedly uses before every speech, and said the prime minister’s statements should not be taken seriously.

Pashinyan rejected the allegations in a video posted on Facebook, lambasting Karapetyan, whom he described as the “oligarch from Kaluga” due to his ties to Russia, and dismissing the statement as “idiotic.”

“I was shown the idiotic statement of the Kaluga oligarch about one ton of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Naturally, I will sue the Kaluga oligarch, and in the legal sense of the word, I will make the Kaluga oligarch consume one ton of hallucinogenic mushrooms. I apologize for my harsh language, but ultimately, everything has its limits,” said Pashinyan.