Stupidity versus cowardice: a new round of confrontation between Pashinyan and Aghazaryan

In the banana republic called Armenia, a new attraction of unprecedented absurdity is gaining momentum, with the participation of MP Hovik Aghazaryan and even Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan himself. The conflict between these two has reached a new stage: Aghazaryan first sent Speaker Alain Simonyan away, and now, albeit indirectly, Pashinyan himself.

Let's remind you how it all started. Hovik got into an altercation with Pashinyan's protégé, the head of the Investigative Committee, Argishti Karamyan, accusing him of putting pressure on businessmen. In response, the head of the IC stated that he had been asked twice by Aghazaryan's son, and there was an element of corruption involved. Naturally, a criminal case has already been opened in connection with this incident.

Papik Varchapet intervened here: he offered Ovik to resign his deputy mandate. It is not good, they say, that a deputy cannot and should not behave in this way. And then the comedy started.

Ovik took "time to think." While he was thinking, Pashinyan sent Parliament Speaker Alain Simonyan to him. Simonyan invited Hovik "to talk." It was expected that as a result of this conversation, Alain would pressure Ovik, who would quickly realize what the matter was and resign. But Aghazaryan turned out to be a tough nut to crack: he sent the speaker away and did not show up for the meeting. When journalists contacted Ovik to find out why he suddenly decided to cancel everything, Ovik said that "he needed more time to think." Several days passed. Ovik thought, thought, and today declared that he was not going to give up the mandate. Not for that, he said, the prince’s mother raised him.

It's not a bad maneuver, is it? And for some reason, Pashinyan did not like this little trick very much. As a result, there are now four criminal cases unfolding around Ovik and his family. The first case is based on the conversation with Karamyan. A criminal case has also been opened against Aghazaryan concerning the export of small cattle, in which he is being held as a witness. Testimony was given against the deputy, according to which he demanded $300,000 from some businessmen, promising to organize, bypassing legal procedures, the export of large quantities of small cattle to the UAE from Armenia. So he decided to make money on sheep.

The deputy's son, Vahe Aghazaryan, is also involved in a criminal case regarding abuses in the companies owned by him: "Autoimporters," "Union of Autoimporters," and "Autoimporters-4," which was opened on August 1, 2023. Fourthly, as Ovik reported today, drugs were found in one of the cars purchased at an auction by a car import company owned by his son.

In general, I don’t want to make assumptions about this situation. It is not surprising that Ovik does not want to give up his mandate. If he does, he will lose his parliamentary immunity. What are the chances that, after such insolence, Pashinyan won’t order Ovik to be sent to prison for any episode in any of the four cases?

But the Armenian authorities, by the way, are no better than Ovik. Pashinyan is simply blackmailing him with prison and courts, absurdly forcing him to fulfill his ridiculous request. Although, in an ideal situation, if Ovik really did something wrong, the parliament itself should have deprived this unclean colleague of immunity. So why all the theatrics? Just to please Pashinyan?

Against a mustachioed coward stands a foolish ex-bearded man. The circus!