Hovik Aghazarian, a recently ousted member of Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party, has accused powerful figures of blackmailing him with threats to reveal personal secrets if he refuses to resign from parliament.
Aghazarian claims Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accessed private data from his confiscated mobile phone, obtained during an Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) interrogation last month. According to Aghazarian, Pashinyan shared this information with senior party members before they voted to expel him.
“They told me, ‘Give up your seat, or your family will find out,’” Aghazarian said in an interview with Factor.am. The 64-year-old defiantly responded, “Let’s say I had an affair. Is that a crime?”
Pashinyan, meanwhile, has vowed to use “political, moral, and other levers” to force Aghazarian out of parliament. While Aghazarian denies accusations of leaking sensitive national security information, his lawyer, Hakob Charoyan, has accused law enforcement of illegally sharing private data with the prime minister.
Pashinyan insists his actions were lawful, but critics claim he violated the constitution. The controversy highlights the ever increasing authoritarianism within Armenia’s leadership.
