Corruption Prevention Commission Concludes Violation of Conduct by PM Pashinyan

The Corruption Prevention Commission addressed the apparent violations of conduct by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during its meeting on August 14. This was reported by Hetq.am.

It is noteworthy that on May 30, Pashinyan had posted on his Facebook page: “Sacred, go on and continue to 'dompel' your uncle’s wife, what do you have to do with me.”

On June 5, the Commission sent a decision to initiate proceedings against Pashinyan, simultaneously demanding explanations regarding the factual circumstances under investigation.

The Commission decided that a linguistic expertise was necessary. This expert examination was conducted by the State Non-Commercial Organization of the Republic of Armenia.

On June 16, Nikol Pashinyan presented his position to the Corruption Prevention Commission, stating: “Although the word 'dompel' is colloquial, it is not an inappropriate term. Regarding the specific case of Pashinyan’s use of that term, it was aimed at protecting the values and principles of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as defined by the 'Canon of the Armenians.'”

According to the expert conclusion, the word 'dompel' has two meanings in Armenian: the first is to hit or strike, and the second is to have sexual intercourse. Considering the posts following Pashinyan's May 30 statement, the Commission concluded that it was used in the second sense.

“Based on the aforementioned, the Commission notes that Post 1 (the May 30 post) was made in response to criticism and was related to a matter of public interest, nonetheless, due to his word choice, it contains a coarse and indecorous nuance,” stated the Commission’s conclusion.

The Commission concluded that the Prime Minister's post contains elements of a violation of Article 48 of the Code of Conduct.

“Taking into account the aforementioned justifications and based on points 2 and 3 of part 1 of Article 22 and parts 2 and 3 of Article 33 of the Law on the Corruption Prevention Commission, the Commission has, upon assessing the available evidence and relying on a comprehensive, complete, and objective study of all circumstances, concluded that there is evidence of a violation of the conduct of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan,” the Commission’s conclusion stated.