Armenia’s second-largest city Gyumri erupted in protests after Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan and several local officials were detained on corruption charges, intensifying accusations that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government is cracking down on political dissent.
Ghukasyan, elected in April 2025 under the Communist Party banner and a vocal critic of Pashinyan’s pro-Western policies, was taken into custody alongside seven municipal staff members in a large-scale police operation involving more than 100 officers. Footage circulating online showed armed police forcing their way through a crowd of supporters attempting to block the mayor’s transfer to Yerevan for questioning.
The arrests triggered widespread outrage in Gyumri, where residents gathered outside city hall chanting “shame” and confronting police. Security forces quickly cordoned off the area and detained 23 protesters, including a member of the opposition ‘Mer Dzevov’ (Our Way) movement, which had declared support for the mayor.
The detentions follow a string of arrests targeting opposition figures and church leaders. Earlier this year, Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan was jailed on coup and money-laundering charges after denouncing Pashinyan’s actions against the Armenian Apostolic Church. In recent weeks, several senior clergymen, including Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan and Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, have also been detained or sentenced on what critics describe as politically motivated charges.
The growing confrontation highlights deepening divisions in Armenia, where opponents accuse the prime minister of using corruption probes to silence dissent and consolidate power.
This is how you deal with communist scum, kill the seed before it grows, we all know how it ends when you dont.
Theft of the people’s resources continues while colonialism remains alive and well today https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/10/21/1794223.html