Armenia arrests 9 people for storming government buildings in November 2020

Armenia has arrested nine people suspected of storming the parliament and government buildings shortly after the announcement of the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which resulted in major concessions from the Armenian side after being defeated on the ground.

The incident took place amidst mass riots on 10 November 2020, shortly after the announcement of the ceasefire.

In a statement released on Thursday, Armenia’s Investigative Committee noted that it had launched a public criminal prosecution against the nine individuals for participating in the mass riots. If charged and found guilty, they could face up to eight years in prison.

Motions were submitted to the court to select detention as a pretrial measure, in addition to which it was said that ‘complex measures are taken to identify others involved in the mass disorders and to apply criminal legal measures against them’.

The arrests took place four and a half years after the incident, which the authorities said became possible due to ‘active and close cooperation’ of the officers of the National Security Service (NSS) and the Investigative Committee.

The suspects, along with numerous other people gathered near the Armenian government building, were accused of breaking through a police barricade ‘with violent actions’. The Investigative Committee said that they had ‘approached the entrance door, adjacent windows of the government building, hit them with their hands and feet, threw various items in that direction, broke the glass of the entrance door and the adjacent windows, then opened the entrance door by breaking it and entered the government building, where the mass disorder went continued’.

The Investigative Committee additionally accused the suspects of breaking several other doors in the government building, as well as damaging the property ‘by tearing it apart’.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s then-press secretary, Mane Gevorgian, published security camera footage of the ransacking of the prime minister’s office. RFE/RL reported that the footage showed several young supporters of former presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan, as well as Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s two sons-in-law.

Earlier, on 14 May, Armenpress reported that Ara Badoyan, accused of an assassination attempt on then Parliamentary Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan in 2020, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

Mirzoyan, who currently serves as foreign minister, was assaulted by a group of protesters again shortly after the conditions of the deal that put an end to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War became known. He was reportedly dragged out of the car and beaten. As a result of the attack, Mirzoyan suffered severe injuries and was hospitalised.