All Opposition Leaders Under Arrest: Pashinyan's Revenge Politics
So Pashinyan got re-elected and revenge politics are in full swing again in Yerevan. All the opposition leaders, Arthur, are now under arrest.
In the weeks following his 2026 re-election, Pashinyan has launched an aggressive offensive against Armenia’s major opposition leaders. Robert Kocharyan was arrested with two months of pretrial detention, his son Sedrak was detained, and homes were searched. Gagik Tsarukyan sits in prison after authorities seized his cement factory and threatened to revoke his properties. Samvel Karapetyan remains under detention for over a year. Criminal charges have been filed against nine others and business associates, including searches of firms linked to Kocharyan and other opposition figures.
Arthur Martirosyan argues this campaign serves multiple purposes beyond domestic revenge. Aliyev has long called for trials of all Armenian leaders involved with Artsakh, and Pashinyan’s arrests of Kocharyan, Karapetyan, and former president Serzh Sargsyan appear designed to satisfy this external pressure while consolidating control. With relations to Moscow deteriorating and dependence on Turkey and Azerbaijan growing, Pashinyan needs to prevent any opposition from mobilizing social discontent that might threaten his geopolitical repositioning.
Martirosyan emphasizes this is not democratic governance but sultanism: control of all three branches of government, law enforcement, and the military with no accountability. The opposition, despite entering parliament, lacks leverage to stop these arrests. Pashinyan’s message is clear, Martirosyan notes: if you cannot love me, you will fear me. Without international pressure from European partners-who tacitly support his anti-Russian stance-there are no consequences for this crackdown on political prisoners and human rights violations.
Transcript
Arthur Martirosyan: but even understands a little bit about how the state and religion in the European civilization that we're aspiring to be part of, right, has been formulated in the last couple of centuries, and in France in particular. So separation of church and state is important. And what he's doing is he's saying, no, no, no, I want a church. This is more like Henry VIII of England, right? I want a church that I can control.
Hovik Manucharyan: Yeah.
Arthur Martirosyan: I don't want them to be independent or influenced by Armenians who live in other parts. And it can be Russia, it can be United States, it can be France, it doesn't matter. Or he could say our interests of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and of Pashinyan coincide here. Maybe coincide, or maybe he's just doing what they put on paper. What do they want? What are their expectations from the Fourth Republic? We will let you live on this territory if you give us whatever we want, according to all other stuff, enclaves, and you allow Azeris to resettle in Armenia. They're denying all of that, but I'm sure that that's the program of Azerbaijan and Turkey. They do not necessarily need to talk about that right now.