27 August 2024
Albert Arustamyan, a 71-year-old resident of Yerevan’s Zeytun district, has been charged with hooliganism after reportedly throwing an apple towards Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as a sign of protest.
The episode occurred on 23 August during a visit by Pashinyan to one of his relatives living in the same building. Eyewitnesses told RFE/RL that the apple did not hit Pashinyan, but that emergency services were still called to the scene.
‘Neighbourhood children say that Nikol Pashinyan and his bodyguard thought a grenade was thrown in their direction and immediately laid down on the ground’, Arustamyan’s lawyer, Roman Yeritsyan, wrote on Facebook.
Yeritsyan also stated that Arustamyan was a native and former resident of Nagorno-Karabakh, and that he has a second-degree disability.
Following the incident, the family’s apartment was searched ‘in the presence of young children to find apples of the same type’ as the one tossed at Pashinyan.
According toYeritsyan, Arustamyan, his two daughters, and granddaughter were taken to the police station ‘against their will and kept there until 07:00’.
Arustamyan was arrested later that same day, and was reportedly treated ‘rudely and contemptuously’ at the police station.
The incident was first reported on by local media outlet ArmLur, which also posted footage online showing law enforcement officers conducting searches in the building.
On 25 August, Arustamyan was charged with hooliganism, but released pending investigation on the condition that he not leave the country. If found guilty, he faces up to two years in prison.
Arustamyan’s lawyer told RFE/RL that the criminal proceeding had been initiated due to the ‘target of the apple’, suggesting that law enforcement bodies would have acted differently if it had happened to an ordinary citizen rather than Pashinyan.
Yeritsyan cited the 2023 incident when a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Garen Megerdichian, accused the Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, of spitting on him after Megerdichian called Simonyan ‘traitor’. Though Simonyan did not deny this allegation, he faced no charges by law enforcement.
[Read more: Armenian Parliament speaker ‘apologises’ for spitting on ARF member]
In the past, the police have acted swiftly after government representatives were targeted by opposition activists. In late March, two hosts of an anti-government podcast were detained on charges of hooliganism after insulting Pashinyan and other figures from the ruling party.
The following month, in April, a man was arrested for insulting a member of Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party. He was also reportedly beaten by a group of masked people while in detention.
