Shahnazaryan Invited to NSS: His Statements Contain Possible Elements of State Treason

On November 27, 2023, a press conference was held at the ‘Hayeli Club’ where Davit Shahnazaryan commented on the statement made by Sassun Mikaelyan, a member of the ‘Civil Contract’ party, during the election campaign in Talin, claiming that ‘We have won the Artsakh war, and I do not hesitate to say that this victory, which you—the Armenian people—achieved in our republic, is more important than the Artsakh liberation struggle.’ In response, Davit Shahnazaryan stated, ‘What Sassun Mikaelyan has said is actually a political program being implemented by Nikol Pashinyan, that is, a power in exchange for Artsakh. I promise that you will all be convinced of this. So, Sassun Mikaelyan has simply articulated what is the current authorities' political objective,’ effectively accusing the current government and acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of state treason. This information was reported by the NSS press service.

Shahnazaryan reaffirmed this accusation during his subsequent press conference at the same media club on December 4, 2023, where he stated that he had not presented all the evidence substantiating his claims regarding the anti-Artsakh policies of the current administration. ‘I do not have all the facts to present to you today that prove the current regime's anti-Artsakh policy. There is still much to come,’ he said.

Considering the fact that according to the national security strategy of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Armenia serves as the guarantor of the security of the population of the Republic of Artsakh, and taking into account that the statements made by Davit Shahnazaryan during the press conferences on November 27 and December 4, 2023, contain possible elements of the composition of state treason (providing assistance in hostile activities to the detriment of the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia), as stipulated in Article 299 of the Armenian Criminal Code, the statements have been treated as reports of particularly serious crimes. Under the provisions of Articles 176-177 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, this matter is being examined by the Department of Constitutional Protection and Counter-Terrorism of the NSS, which is verifying the legality of the grounds for initiating a criminal case and whether sufficient grounds exist for such a procedure.