Pashinian repeatedly lost his temper on Monday as he was approached and criticized by several citizens while campaigning for next month’s parliamentary elections in Yerevan’s northern Arabkir district. They included Arpine Soghoyan, a gynecologist whose brother, senior military medic Hrant Papikian, went missing during the 2020 war in Karabakh. Soghoyan blamed Pashinian for her loss and accused him of having “stolen my fatherland” and “tried to bring us to our knees.”
Pashinian responded by linking the middle-aged woman to the leaders of the three main opposition groups challenging him in the June 7 elections and pledging to “take out” them. He reacted even more furiously later in the day after being confronted by a Yerevan-based Karabakh activist, Artur Osipian, who criticized his policies on Karabakh.
Osipian was dragged away from Pashinian after a tense exchange between the two men. Moments later, Pashinian picked up a megaphone and rushed towards the man, shouting insults and threats.
“These Karabakh pseudo-elites must get the hell out of here,” he cried. “What are you doing here? … You should have died when there was the Karabakh issue. Why are you alive at all, you scumbag?”
Osipian, who publicly campaigned against Karabakh’s last leadership before the region’s recapture by Azerbaijan, was arrested by police on suspicion of “hooliganism” shortly after the incident. He remained in police custody as of Tuesday evening. It remained unclear whether he will be formally charged.
Pashinian’s outbursts provoked a storm of condemnation from the Armenian opposition. Samvel Karapetian, a billionaire leading the main opposition Strong Armenia alliance, deplored “one of the most shameful and disgraceful days for our people” in a video message posted on social media on Monday night.
“Even 20 more days of Pashinian remaining in power is dangerous for our country,” said Karapetian. “Our enemies can see the mentally unstable state of our country’s temporary leader … Pashinian is disgracing not only our state but also the image of the Armenian people, the Armenian man.”
Former President Robert Kocharian, who leads the opposition Hayastan alliance, again questioned Pashinian’s sanity, saying mockingly that “the patient needs our compassion.” Other opposition figures claimed that with his latest antics the premier exposed his growing fears of losing power.
Predictably, law-enforcement authorities reported no criminal proceedings against Pashinian over what critics see as death threats against the opposition. The Office of the Prosecutor-General told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday that it has not even launched a preliminary inquiry.
This stance stood in sharp contrast with recent months’ regular arrests of Pashinian detractors accused of insulting the premier or his allies on social media. No such criminal cases have been opened against any government loyalists.
