Georgia-Linked Activist Vahagn Chakhalyan Detained in Armenia
Vahagn Chakhalyan, a leader of Armenia’s opposition Will, or Kamq, initiative and a former activist in Georgia’s predominantly ethnic Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region, has been detained in Armenia, local authorities said July 4.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said Chakhalyan, along with other leaders and members of the opposition Sacred Struggle movement, was arrested on terrorism and coup-plotting charges.
Georgia’s jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili said on Facebook that Chakhalyan was an agent of Russian military intelligence and slammed the Georgian Dream government for its 2013 decision to release him from prison under an amnesty.
“Chakhalyan was not doing Armenian work, neither in Georgia nor in Armenia. He was a GRU-recruited agent based in Akhalkalaki. Georgian Dream also served Russian interests by releasing him from prison,” Saakashvili wrote.
Georgian Ties
In Georgia, Chakhalyan was active in the early 2000s in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, where ethnic Armenians form the majority. He was part of groups that organized protests in 2005 against the withdrawal of a Russian military base from the town of Akhalkalaki and called for autonomy for the Javakheti region.
In 2008, Chakhalyan was arrested on charges of illegal weapons possession. Additional charges followed, related to weapons possession, hooliganism, and acts against public order, connected to 2005 and 2006 incidents, when protesters stormed a court chamber and a local branch of Tbilisi State University in Akhalkalaki.
Chakhalyan and his supporters called the charges politically motivated. He was released in 2013 under a broad amnesty by the newly elected Georgian Dream government, a move that drew criticism from Saakashvili and his United National Movement party.
Saakashvili called Chakhalyan “an enemy of the Georgian state” and accused then-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili of releasing him “to please” Russia.
That same year, Chakhalyan and Saakashvili had a heated public exchange during Saakashvili’s visit to Akhalkalaki. Saakashvili accused Chakhalyan of separatism and ties to Russian intelligence, while Chakhalyan criticized his imprisonment and raised concerns about the rights of the local Armenian community.
