MMA Fighter Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years in Prison for 2020 Attack on Ararat Mirzoyan

An Armenian court has sentenced mixed martial arts fighter Torgom Asatryan to five years and six months in prison for taking part in the violent attack on Ararat Mirzoyan, who was the speaker of the National Assembly in 2020 and now serves as Armenia’s foreign minister.

The verdict was handed down by a Yerevan court on Wednesday. Asatryan, who appeared before the court, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The case dates back to November 2020, when large-scale unrest broke out in central Yerevan following the end of the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The protests erupted a day after the signing of a Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement, under which Armenia lost control of several territories to Azerbaijan.

During the demonstrations, protesters stormed government and parliament buildings, accusing Armenia’s leadership of capitulating to Azerbaijan. During the chaos, Mirzoyan was violently attacked by a group of protesters and hospitalized with serious injuries.

According to the court ruling, Asatryan was among those who took part in the assault. His case was one of several connected to the violent events that took place that day.

Earlier in May 2025, another man involved in the same incident, Ara Badoyan, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Both Asatryan and Badoyan were initially charged with attempted murder, but prosecutors later reclassified the charges as violence during mass riots.

Asatryan is a professional featherweight mixed martial arts fighter. His last recorded fight took place in September 2022 at the Georgian Fighting Championship (GFC).

—

Support independent reporting from the region by subscribing to The Armenian Report. Our team is funded solely by readers like you.