Aregnaz Manukian, a leading member of the opposition Mayr Hayastan party, is prosecuted as part of a high treason case against the party chairman, Andranik Tevanian. The latter was arrested on May 22 two days after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced espionage charges against him while campaigning for the June 7 parliamentary elections.
The Investigative Committee claims that Tevanian was recruited by a foreign, presumably Russian, intelligence service two years ago. According to it, he was paid $622,000 to supply state secrets, notably confidential details of a closed-door parliamentary hearing on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border demarcation held in April 2024.
Unlike Tevanian, who had resigned from the parliament in August 2023, Manukian still held a parliament seat at the time. She is now accused of sharing with Tevanian classified information that was provided to lawmakers during the hearing. She denies the accusation.
Manvel Shahverdian, a Yerevan court judge, allowed investigators on July 9 to not only hold Manukian in pretrial detention but also prevent her from receiving family visits in jail. The ban remains in place despite a mounting uproar from the Armenian opposition and concerns voiced by Armenia’s human rights ombudswoman, Anahit Manasian. The oppositionist’s lawyer, Tatevik Soghoyan, said on Thursday that Manasian’s office has arranged psychological aid required by her daughter.
“Obviously, this could not have gone without negative consequences for the underage girl,” Soghoyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Opposition lawmakers decried the ban during the inaugural session of the new Armenian parliament that began on August 2.
“Why are you torturing that kid?” said Artur Khachatrian of the opposition Hayastan alliance. “If she goes to see her mother, will justice suffer from that?”
Hasmik Hakobian, a pro-government lawmaker who also has a 13-year-old daughter, defended the ban, saying that Manukian is facing a “grave accusation.” Soghoyan countered that the accusation leveled against her 46-year-old client is of “medium gravity” under Armenian law.
“Aregnaz Manukian is not accused of high treason;” argued the lawyer. “Aregnaz Manukian’s accusation is an assumption that she passed on some state secrets to Andranik Tevanian.”
Mayr Hayastan ran in the June 7 parliamentary elections in a de facto alliance with businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK). Pashinian repeatedly pledged to jail Tsarukian and the leaders of two other major opposition groups during and after the election campaign. The BHK leader was arrested on July 6.
Dozens of other opposition leaders, members and supporters have also been arrested in recent months on different charges denied by them. The Armenian opposition has rejected as fraudulent their official election results that gave victory to Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.
