The 71-year-old professor, Gagik Ghazinian, is the father of Davit Ghazinian, a leading member of the main opposition Strong Armenia elected to the country’s new parliament. The latter was arrested following the June 7 parliamentary election and spent nearly a month in prison on vote-buying charges denied by him.
Gagik Ghazinian has worked at Yerevan State University (YSU) since 1983. He continued to teach law there after resigning in 2024 as dean of YSU’s Law Department, a position he held for 28 years. The university administration notified him recently that his employment contract will not be renewed in September.
Davit Ghazinian said on Monday that his father will challenge the dismissal in court. He described it as government retribution for his political activities which he said was ordered by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Professor Gagik Ghazinyan (right) and his son Davit Ghazinian.
YSU’s pro-government rector, Hovannes Hovannisian, could not be reached for comment. The university spokeswoman, Knar Misakian, promised to explain Gazinian’s sacking but did not get back to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service by the end of the day.
At least four YSU lecturers critical of Pashinian were pushed out of the university in a similar fashion in July and June this year. They included prominent pro-opposition lawyer Ruben Melikian and indicted political scientist Alen Ghulian. Melikian, who taught law at YSU for the last 23 years, also pledged to take the university administration to court.
Also planning legal action was Hayastan Hakobian, who was fired from a state college in the town of Armavir shortly after the June 7 elections in which she ran on the Strong Armenia ticket. The college director denied that her dismissal was politically motivated.
Quite a few other individuals holding managerial positions in the public sector, who are related to oppositionists or critical of the government, have also lost their jobs in recent months. They include Lilit Ghazarian, the sister of another Strong Armenia member elected to the parliament.
Lilit Ghazarian, deputy head of the Centre for Drug and Medical Technology Expertise.
Ghazarian served as deputy head of the Armenian government’s drug regulatory agency for 22 years. She said that her boss told her to resign for “known reasons” the day after the disputed polls. She said she refused before being notified that her position has been abolished.
On July 13, a state policlinic in Yerevan fired its chief gynecologist Arpine Soghoyan who bitterly argued with Pashinian during his election campaign in the city’s northern Arabkir district. Soghoyan accused him of having “ruined the country” and “wiped out a whole young generation” during the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinian reacted furiously, linking her to the leaders of Armenia’s three main opposition groups.
Soghoyan was notified by the policlinic director that her position has been abolished as part of what the Yerevan municipality described as cost-cutting layoffs. She brushed aside the explanation, saying that she was punished for the incident with Pashinian. The experienced doctor too challenged her dismissal in court.
