Why Former MP Aragats Akhoyan Was Arrested

Information has circulated on the internet regarding the arrest of former National Assembly member Aragats Akhoyan. Auroranews was informed by the Investigative Committee of Armenia that Akhoyan was arrested on charges of publicly inciting violence through social media.

“On July 31, 2023, based on evidence of apparent criminal acts, the third division of the Central and Norq-Marash administrative districts of the Investigative Committee of Armenia initiated criminal proceedings under Part 2, Subparagraph 3 of Article 330 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. The investigation revealed that on June 8, 2023, using information and communication technologies, A.A. made public calls for violence against a group of individuals due to their political views on his Facebook page named 'Aragats Akhoyan.' In particular, he made the following post: ‘Compile the list of those f...ing weaklings we will execute after Nikol’s s...,’ to which numerous Facebook users responded.

Based on the gathered evidence, on November 3, 2023, a petition was submitted to the supervising prosecutor to initiate public criminal prosecution against A.A. under Part 2, Subparagraph 3 of Article 330 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, which was approved. A decision was made to arrest the defendant A.A. for the purpose of presenting him to court. On November 6, he was arrested and charged. On the same day, a petition was submitted to the first instance general jurisdiction criminal court of Yerevan to apply detention as a preventive measure, which the court partially granted for a duration of one month,” the Investigative Committee stated.

It should be noted that in 2021, Akhoyan was accused of attempting to seize the government building.