A violent brawl broke out on Tuesday inside Armenia’s National Assembly, involving opposition lawmaker Artur Sargsyan. The incident occurred amid rising tensions in the country. After the brawl, lawmakers voted to strip Sargsyan of his parliamentary immunity, paving the way for charges against him over his calls to oust President Nikol Pashinyan.
Artur Sargsyan, a member of the opposition bloc Armenia, had just finished a speech when the fight started. In his speech, he said the case against him was decided before any trial and called Armenia “a bastion of dictatorship” where “everything is decided in advance, written down, approved.” After his speech, when he tried to leave, other lawmakers blocked him, and security guards rushed in, as videos from news outlets showed.
Later, lawmakers voted to remove Sargsyan’s immunity. Without this protection, he could be prosecuted. He turned himself in to Armenia’s Investigative Committee, which accused him and 15 others of planning to overthrow the government. President Pashinyan’s government says it is acting to stop a coup attempt.
CHURCH LEADERS ARRESTED
The political crisis in Armenia has deepened after several opposition members, including leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, have been arrested. Important church figures — Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan and Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan — are in pre-trial detention on charges of being involved in the alleged coup plot.
On June 28, many supporters gathered outside the church headquarters near the capital, Yerevan, to stop Ajapahyan’s arrest. He later turned himself in. The Investigative Committee claims that the plotters planned bombings, arson, and accidents on main roads to cause chaos. Both church leaders deny these accusations.
Ajapahyan and Galstanyan are members of the opposition group Sacred Struggle, which led major protests against Pashinyan last year. Initially focused on territorial losses, the movement has since expanded to broader government criticisms, fuelling tensions between the president and the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The government has also targeted other critics. On Monday, police raided a large energy company owned by Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian-Armenian billionaire who has spoken against Pashinyan. Parliament passed a law on July 3 that allows the government to nationalise this company. Karapetyan was arrested shortly before this law was approved, after calling for the government’s removal.
CONFLICT WITH AZERBAIJAN
Armenia’s political unrest is connected to its ongoing conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan. Since the early 1990s, the two countries have fought over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, Armenian-backed forces took control of Karabakh and surrounding areas inside Azerbaijan.
In 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured large parts of this territory after almost 30 years. A quick military campaign in September 2023 gave Azerbaijan full control over Karabakh. Armenia also handed over several border villages to Azerbaijan.
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