Ex-head of the National Security Service of Armenia suspected of preparing the assassination of Pashinyan
Artur Vanetsyan was detained for the second time in a week. He participated in events, the participants of which demand the resignation of Prime Minister Pashinyan. It was at his suggestion that Vanetsyan was appointed Director of the National Security Service in 2018
Former head of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan was detained by the Armenian authorities on suspicion of plotting the assassination of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. RIA Novosti reports this with reference to the detainee’s lawyer Lusine Sahakyan.
According to her, Vanetsyan was invited to the Investigation Department of the National Security Service and detained on suspicion of committing crimes under several articles. In particular, we are talking about “the preparation of the murder of a state, political or public figure, committed by a group of persons in a preliminary conspiracy”, “complicity in the illegal acquisition, sale, storage of weapons” and “preparation for the usurpation of power.”
As the lawyer noted, the flight of thought of the country’s authorities, who are trying to silence political opponents, has reached the point that accusations of plotting the murder of Pashinyan appear. “All this is no longer possible to comment on the legal plane. This is a shameful political persecution aimed at preserving power, bringing anti-state programs to the end, ”Sahakyan said.
RBC sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee of Armenia.
Artur Vanetsyan took part in protests demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. Opposition actions have been taking place in Yerevan for several days, its participants demand the resignation of the head of government due to the fact that he signed an agreement on a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh and the transfer of part of the territories of the unrecognized republic to Azerbaijan.
On November 12, the National Security Service of Armenia detained former deputy speaker of parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, former director of the National Security Service and leader of the Rodina party Artur Vanetsyan, and former vice speaker Aru Sahakyan for holding a rally demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. Even before the start of the event, the head of the Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan was detained, Sharmazanov and Vanetsyan were detained after the rally. Vanetsyan was later released by court order.
Vanetsyan was appointed head of the National Security Service of Armenia in May 2018 on the proposal of Pashinyan and by decree of the country’s President Armen Sarkissian. Prior to that, for two years, he held the position of Deputy Head of the NSS Department for Yerevan. Vanetsyan was fired from his post as director of the NSS in September last year. Commenting on his dismissal, he said that “he made this decision as confidently as when he agreed to take the post of director of the SNB.” In his address, Vanetsyan made it clear that he did not agree with some of the actions of the politicians. “The spontaneity of decisions, the groundlessness of actions, the indistinguishability of the primary from the secondary” – this is how he then described the work of the Armenian authorities.
Сообщение Ex-head of the National Security Service of Armenia suspected of preparing the assassination of Pashinyan появились сначала на supercar.ru.