The flawless democrat of Yerevan

From the barricades to the government. Nikol Pashinyan with a megaphone at the so-called Velvet Revolution in 2018

Throughout his life, Nikol Pashinyan was considered something of a revolutionary. During Soviet times, he was not allowed to finish his journalism studies because of articles critical of the government. In 2003, when he was editor of a newspaper critical of the government and publishing research on corruption, a bomb exploded in his – empty – car. In 2008, police and military forces used force to suppress protests in Yerevan, leaving ten people dead. It was not the then President Robert Kocharyan, who gave the order, who was convicted, but Pashinyan as one of the organizers of the protest. He published his anti-government articles underground for a while until he turned himself in and spent two years in prison.

In 2018 he was a leading figure in the so-called Velvet Revolution. The protests, which he led with a megaphone in his hand, forced the government to resign. In the subsequent election, his party alliance won hands down. Since then, Pashinyan has been prime minister and the most powerful man in Armenia. Now it is his political opponents who are going to prison.

"Everything depends on one person, he makes all the decisions," says Yeviya Hovhannisyan about the Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan. This is exactly what people took to the streets in 2018.

In June, Pashinyan's Civil Contract party won the parliamentary election with 49.7 percent of the vote, once again achieving an absolute majority of seats in parliament. Immediately afterwards he announced that he would now finally take action against the “three-member war party and the associated oligarchic system”. This meant three opposition parties: first, “Strong Armenia,” which received 27.6 percent of the vote in the elections and whose leader Samvel Karapetyan had already been arrested last year; then “Blooming Armenia,” which is no longer represented in parliament with just under four percent of the vote and whose leader Gagik Zarukyan was arrested shortly after the election; and finally the “Armenia” party alliance (11.4 percent) of former President Robert Kocharyan, who has been in prison since the end of August.

Evija Hovhannisyan, who heads the office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Yerevan, is critical of some of Pashinyan's government's approaches with regard to democratic institutions and the rule of law. She is certain: “These court cases were a political decision by Pashinyan.” But she also says: “Accountability is important. These processes should have happened much earlier.

The three gentlemen are not exactly modest dissidents. Karapetyan is a billionaire and is considered the richest Armenian. He also has Russian citizenship - he made his fortune there in the 1990s, and his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin are correspondingly close. He was arrested in 2025 when Pashinyan clashed with the Armenian Church. At that time, Karapetyan threatened to “intervene in this campaign against the church in our own way.” Pashinyan, who is known for speaking out frequently on Facebook and Instagram, replied in a post: "Now I will intervene with you, you scoundrel." The next day, Karapetyan was in prison, and shortly afterwards his electricity company Ena was confiscated. He is accused of calling for the overthrow of the government; He was later charged with tax evasion, fraud and money laundering. The latter has been under investigation in France since 2024. According to the public prosecutor's office there, he is said to have bought a villa worth 120 million euros on the Côte d'Azur on behalf of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.

Zarukyan also has a huge fortune, which he can only have amassed through political contacts and questionable business practices. He is considered an ally of former President Kocharyan and a confidant of Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko. He is accused of fraud, money laundering, extortion and tax evasion. The Armenian anti-corruption authority confiscated, among other things, a brandy factory and a cement plant. During the election campaign in May, Pashinyan had already threatened to nationalize the cement plant and ensure that Zarukyan would "live in a cage for decades." The third person arrested, Kocharyan, ruled Armenia from 1998 to 2008. For many Armenians, he embodies the corrupt, autocratic past that they wanted to finally leave behind with the Velvet Revolution. He should now be prosecuted, among other things, for the dead demonstrators in 2008 - as Pashinyan had promised during the election campaign.

Howhannisjan from the Böll Foundation is certain: These three very rich politicians would have been convicted long ago in a functioning constitutional state. What is problematic, however, is what these processes say about Armenia's institutions. Armenia is still the most democratic country in the South Caucasus, but there are still problems in the legal system and the separation of powers. “Everything depends on one person, he makes all the decisions,” says Hovhannisyan. People took to the streets against such a “personalized government system” in 2018. Pashinyan is nowhere near as authoritarian as his predecessors, but one could certainly argue that a "real" revolution did not take place back then. The administration had not been renewed and the state had failed to strengthen the independence of key institutions - such as the courts, parliament and law enforcement agencies.

According to the OSCE, Russia influenced the election in favor of the opposition by recently imposing trade sanctions and threatening to stop gas exports if Armenia continued to move closer to the EU.

The OSCE certified that the June elections were free and well organized. However, the opposition was intimidated by allegations of planning election fraud. Russia, on the other hand, would have influenced the election in favor of the opposition by recently imposing trade sanctions and threatening to stop gas exports if Armenia continued to move closer to the EU. Meanwhile, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US Vice President J.D. Vance were in Armenia ahead of the election to support Pashinyan.

However, Tigran Grigoryan, the chairman of the Armenian think tank RCDS, accuses the government of an "anti-democratic intervention" that influenced the election results. The results at three polling stations were canceled due to alleged irregularities. In this case, the Armenian electoral law provides for the voting to be repeated in the affected polling stations, Grigoryan explained in an article on the OC Media portal. But that didn't happen. This is particularly relevant because, according to him, there is something to suggest that the “Blooming Armenia” party would have achieved the four percent needed to enter parliament with the votes cast there.

According to Hovhannisyan, Pashinyan's "personalized leadership style" is also reflected in the fact that the prime minister constantly addresses the people directly on Facebook and Instagram. Whether he fires ministers, threatens his political enemies or listens to American hip hop in his car - his followers find out all of this directly on his personal channels. This “open communication style” helped set him apart from the stiff apparatchiks of the past in 2018, says Hovhannisyan. But now he is “the most important issue-setter for the Armenian public.” The only opposing voice was the pro-Russian opposition parties and media outlets close to them - there was a lack of "independent media that offer constructive criticism." In addition, many “civil society activists” who were on the streets with Pashinyan in 2018 subsequently became part of the government. This also meant that there were too few critical voices. Anyone who criticizes the government is often accused of destabilizing society and thereby opening the door to Russian influence.

Nina Karapetjan was on the street in 2018 – “Of course!” is how she answers the question. But now she dreams of a new revolution that will drive Pashinyan from office. That will definitely happen, she is sure, and then it is important that there is a plan. For this reason she founded her “constitutional movement” Nzahr. After working for a long time for the human rights organization Helsinki Association, she switched to politics and ran unsuccessfully as the top candidate for a small party in June. However, Nzahlr offers cooperation to all parties. The goal is a new constitution to limit the concentration of power in the prime minister and strengthen the separation of powers. However, it quickly becomes clear during the conversation that Karapetjan is not just concerned with democracy. She also wants to stop Pashinyan's "anti-Armenian" plans. By this she means his attempts to hold peace negotiations with Azerbaijan. "This humiliating way of seeking peace is not supported by the population," Karapetjans is certain.

Hovhannisyan has a completely different opinion. Despite all the criticism of Pashinyan, she is a great supporter of the peace process. Armen Ohanjan sees it that way too. The writer is the chairman of Pen Armenia. He also sees problems in Pashinyan's politics, but many of those who are now the target of repression were previously "part of a criminal, corrupt system." The major opposition parties are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and their leaders are corrupt “Putin puppets.” Of course you have to keep an eye on Pashinyan, but it is important to push back Russian influence.

You also have to remember how things used to be, says Ohanjan and then tells a story about Robert Kocharyan, who was recently arrested. During his term as President of Armenia, he was sitting in a café at a jazz concert when a former classmate greeted him casually. Kocharyan probably took that as an insult. His bodyguards dragged the man into the cafe's toilet and beat him until he was dead. Only one bodyguard was sentenced to one year's probation for negligent homicide. Hardly any eyewitnesses dared to testify in court, says Ohanjan - "That's how it was back then!" The fact that the oppressors of the past are now themselves the target of questionable measures makes the whole matter "very complicated, psychologically and morally," says Ohanjan. It is “a time of dilemmas.”