Yerevan court accepts Pashinyan’s defamation case over Kareptyan’s hallucinogenic mushrooms comment
A court in Yerevan has accepted a defamation case filed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan against Russian-Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan, who heads the Strong Armenia Alliance and is Pashinyan’s highest-polling competitor in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Earlier in May, Karapetyan had accused Pashinyan of taking hallucinogenic mushrooms he had obtained in China before making public speeches, which he said was a reason not to take Pashinyan seriously.
Pashinyan swiftly denied the allegations and said shortly after he planned to file a lawsuit against Karapetyan.
‘Naturally, I am going to sue [Karapetyan] and, in the legal sense of the word, make [Karapetyan] eat one tonne of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Excuse my harsh language, but in the end, everything has its limits’, Pashinyan said earlier in May.
The state-run media outlet Armenpress reported on Friday that the lawsuit had been accepted, and that Pashinyan was demanding restitution of ֏6 million ($16,250) in damages, as well as an official retraction and apology from Karapetyan.
Despite being named its prime ministerial candidate, Karapetyan has not been included in the alliance’s electoral list. His nomination has sparked controversy due to legal requirements that stipulate that candidates for the position should hold only Armenian citizenship and have resided in the country for the past four years — requirements Karapetyan does not mean.
Karapetyan announced in April that he had initiated the process of renouncing his Russian and Cypriot citizenship ahead of the elections.
He is currently under house arrest over criminal charges of calling for a coup.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
