Pashinyan’s Outburst in Parliament: Armenian PM Threatens Opposition With Prison

Armenia's Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, unleashed a heated verbal assault against opposition lawmakers during a parliamentary session on Wednesday, threatening to imprison them in response to allegations of corruption within his government.

The clash erupted when Anna Grigoryan, a parliament deputy from the opposition Hayastan alliance, accused Pashinyan of ignoring media reports that accused members of his inner circle of corruption. Grigoryan stated that despite the reports, no legal actions have been taken against those allegedly involved.

“You don't have the political will to hold your own team accountable,” Grigoryan charged, directly confronting the prime minister during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly.

Pashinyan, visibly agitated, responded by asserting that media reports are not equivalent to legal judgments. “In Armenia, the media is not the judicial authority,” he said. “If we had acted on media articles, we would have hanged you and expelled you from Armenia altogether.”

Pashinyan’s outburst continued as he questioned why Grigoryan herself was still free despite accusations of being a foreign spy. “Why are you free at all?” he demanded. “They write that you are foreign spies. Why are you in this hall in the first place? If I am guided by media reports, I will have to throw all of you into the NSS (National Security Service) basement.”

The tense exchange escalated when Pashinyan threatened to imprison Hayastan lawmakers, including Artur Khachatryan and Kristine Vartanyan, both of whom challenged the prime minister’s claims. “You must be the first to go [to the NSS prison] and you will go,” he told Khachatryan, as the shouting match grew louder.

At this point, parliament speaker Alen Simonyan, a key figure in Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, intervened to restore order but also directed harsh words toward Vartanyan, threatening to eject her from the chamber. “Behave yourself,” Vartanyan retorted defiantly.

This is not the first time Pashinyan has resorted to incendiary rhetoric against his opponents. In March, he warned that he would “throw against the wall” and “trample underfoot” Armenia’s three former presidents if they continued to blame him for the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, a remark widely condemned as an overreach of executive power.

Despite coming to power in 2018 on the promise of eradicating systemic corruption, Pashinyan now faces mounting accusations that his administration has merely shifted corruption networks rather than dismantled them. Reports of members of his entourage allegedly using their positions for personal gain have become more frequent, undermining his initial pledges of transparency and justice.

Armenia's fragile political climate remains volatile, with Pashinyan’s increasingly authoritarian stance sowing further divisions. Critics argue that the prime minister is cracking down on dissent in an attempt to consolidate power, while his supporters insist that he is merely responding to baseless provocations from opposition forces.

As the political standoff continues, the people of Armenia and its diaspora watch anxiously, wondering whether Pashinyan will follow through on his threats or if cooler heads will prevail in the corridors of power.

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