Nagorno-Karabakh agreement: political crisis continues in Armenia

Opposition demonstration in Yerevan on November 12 to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian.

Stepan Poghosyan / Photolure via REUTERS

Text by: Anastasia Becchio

4 min

Two days after the signing of an end-of-hostilities agreement with Azerbaijan, part of the population protested against what they considered to be a capitulation on the part of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and demanded his resignation.

During the night of Monday to Tuesday, the seat of government and the Parliament were invaded by demonstrators and partially ransacked.

About twenty opposition figures have been arrested for their alleged role in the violence.

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Among the personalities arrested, there are representatives of the Republican Party, the Fatherland movement, the formation not represented in Parliament Dachnaktsoutioun and prosperous Armenia, the party of the oligarch Gaguik Tsaroukian.

This deputy, a wealthy businessman, had already been arrested in September on suspicion of buying votes, fraud and illegal appropriation of land.

He was released on bail last month after martial law was imposed in the country amid war in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

According to the investigation service of the Armenian prosecution, the arrested politicians are suspected of "illegal organization of violent mass disorders", a crime punishable by 10 years in prison.

Their supporters denounce illegal arrests and speak of political persecution.

For his part, the Prime Minister accuses the protest of being driven by a corrupt oligarchy from the old regime, the very one he had overthrown two years ago, at the head of the Velvet Revolution. 

Nikol Pachininan, who spoke with the president this Thursday morning, continues to explain in video messages on Facebook.

" 

, before warning:

 ."

A new opposition demonstration was scheduled for Thursday in Yerevan in the early afternoon.

► Things seen on the road to Goris

The end of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh means the deployment of Russian peacekeeping forces.

The entire Goris region, the last town before the border of the Nagorno-Karabakh territories conquered in recent days by Azerbaijani forces is closed.

Only residents, soldiers and aid workers are allowed.

RFI is the first media to have been able to go there.

With our special correspondent in Goris

, 

Police officers, soldiers, members of the secret services, blue or khaki uniforms, it is a region under high surveillance.

The first dam is 80 kilometers from the Armenian capital.

You have to be patient and show a white paw before you reach Goris.

On this road which until now led to Nagorno-Karabakh, very few civilian cars circulate, mainly on the way back to the capital.

These are

, with suitcases, tables, chairs tied up and covered overflowing with small vans.

We also see low-speed ambulances descending towards Yerevan to transport the wounded and dead.

In the direction of the rise, under the tops of the mountains white with the first snows, circulate some vehicles of the Red Cross, Russian and Armenian trucks and especially tanks, often transported by two at low speed in the bends.

Those of the Armenian army to go to secure the border on the south side, and those of the Russian soldiers most often already signed "

Peaceful 

".

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• Armenia

• Nagorno-Karabakh

• Azerbaijan

• Russia