23:44, 8 April 2022

Court acquits Pashinyan in case on riots in Armenia

Nikol Pashinyan. Photo by the press office of Armenian Prime Minister

A court cancelled the sentence of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, convicted in 2010 on the charge of riots.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on January 19, 2010, Nikol Pashinyan, who was then the editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper “Haykakan Zhamanak”, was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. The court found him guilty of organizing mass riots in March 2008. On March 9, 2010, the court applied an amnesty to Nikol Pashinyan and halved the unserved part of his sentence. In 2011, Nikol Pashinyan was released.

The Armenian Court of Cassation recognized that Nikol Pashinyan was not guilty in organizing the riots, the “News-Armenia” reports.

Let remind you that since 2012, Nikol Pashinyan had been a member of the Armenian parliament, and in April 2018, he led a protest movement against the election of former president Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister. Nikol Pashinyan achieved the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan and headed the government of the country.

On March 1-2, 2008, riots broke out in Yerevan after the dispersal of the rally organized by the opposition, which did not agree with Serzh Sargsyan’s the victory in the presidential election. Ten people were killed in clashes with law enforcers, and more than 250 others were injured.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 8, 2022 at 12:56 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot