Pashinian’s Pledge To ‘Take Out’ Opposition Leaders ‘Not Criminal’

· November 4, 2026

RFE/RL’s Armenian Service

Armenia – Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian shouts threats against his critics during an election campaign event in Yerevan, May 18, 2026.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pre-election pledge to “take out” Armenia’s top opposition leaders did not amount to death threats, the head of a law-enforcement body prosecuting scores of his political opponents insisted on Tuesday.

As he campaigned for the June 7 parliamentary elections in Yerevan, Pashinian repeatedly lost his temper after being confronted by disgruntled citizens. They included the sister of a senior military medic who went missing during the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. He linked her to the three main opposition election contenders and pledged to “bring on their knees” and “take out” their leaders.

A senior representative of the main opposition Strong Armenia bloc petitioned prosecutors to order a formal inquiry into what it saw as public calls for violence and hate speech. The Office of the Prosecutor-General office forwarded the demand to another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee. The latter refused to open a criminal case.

Anna Grigorian, the parliamentary leader of the opposition Hayastan alliance, challenged the Investigative Committee head, Artur Poghosian, to assess Pashinian’s threats as she accused him and his law-enforcement agency of serving as a tool for government repression against the opposition.

“If one citizen of Armenia says to another, “I’m going to take you out, I’m going to force you to your knees,’ does this constitute a criminal offense or not?” she asked Poghosian during a meeting in the National Assembly.

“In my opinion, there are no elements of a crime in the prime minister’s statements,” replied Poghosian.

Grigorian countered that the Investigative Committee pressed criminal charges against a man who voiced the same threats against Pashinian on social media following the premier’s scandalous outburst. Poghosian responded by saying vaguely that his agency “evaluates the person, the situation, the time and the environment” before determining whether he or she committed a crime.

“That’s what jurisprudence is all about,” added the law-enforcement official. “It’s a very interesting science.”

Pashinian continued to attack and threaten his main election challengers before and after the elections. Robert Kocharian, a former president leading Hayastan, and Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian were arrested in the following weeks on what they call politically motivated charges.