Andranik Tevanyan from the pretrial detention center: The main hybrid threat to Armenia is Pashinyan`s policies, which serve the Azerbaijani-Turkish agenda

ArmInfo. The main hybrid threat to Armenia is the policy of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which serves the Azerbaijani-Turkish agenda and turns Armenia into a bargaining chip in the geopolitical confrontation.

This new message was issued by Mother Armenia Party leader Andranik Tevanyan, who is under arrest in Yerevan-Kentron prison (better known as the NSS basements - ed.). First of all, he recalled how he ended up under arrest. "During the pre-election period, during a Goebbels-style rally, Pashinyan uttered a brazen lie and illegally ordered a criminal case to be fabricated against me, as a result of which I was arrested. The thief shouted louder than anyone: 'Stop the thief!'" The authorities used the big, brazen lies spread about me, among other things, to create scary headlines, steal votes from one of the main opposition forces, and prepare unprecedented election fraud. In other words, the theft of our mandate did not occur after June 7th—through the illegal decisions of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Constitutional Court—but much earlier, when information terror was unleashed against us,” Tevanyan said in a message published on the Mother Armenia Facebook page.

After that, as the politician continued, the falsification became a matter of technique and degree of cynicism. “Unfortunately, the opposition forces participating in the elections did not respond to Pashinyan’s blatantly illegal actions in a united and adequate manner, although it was obvious that the ‘bell was tolling’ not only for me, the Mother Armenia party, and the entire Armenian people.” "Or 'Prosperous Armenia,' but also for all the others. This paved the way for a power grab and a new wave of post-election political persecution and show arrests. Be that as it may, I am grateful to all those political forces, public figures, intellectuals, journalists, and ordinary people who did not remain silent, who did not swallow the brazen lies about my alleged treason and espionage, which the traitor himself attributed to me, and who demonstrated a civic and moral position by condemning this blatant lawlessness and not being intimidated by media attacks," noted the leader of the Mother Armenia party.

Regarding the details of the case, Tevanyan noted that, as expected, it had already fallen apart during the preliminary investigation. In particular, he recalled how he was accused of being "recruited by the special services of a foreign state," meaning the Russian special services. In addition, Tevanyan added, information was also disseminated that he "gave information containing state secrets to foreign special services for $622,000." "The case, fabricated on the basis of this Goebbels lie, has already been sent to court. The first hearing will take place on September 8. The indictment sent to court does not contain the aforementioned charges due to lack of evidence. That is, there is no accusation or justification for the claim that I was recruited by the special services of a foreign state; there is also no accusation that I allegedly transferred state secrets to a foreign state for $622,000. "The prosecutor's office itself closed the case of receiving money due to a complete lack of evidence," the politician noted.

That's precisely why, according to the party leader, other, equally absurd and unfounded charges were concocted in order to bring the case to an end and preserve the charges that carry penalties of up to life imprisonment. "Incidentally, from the very first day of fabricating the case, the so-called law enforcement officers have been unable to decide what exactly to accuse me of, how to classify the act, how to evaluate the materials, and, finally, how to conceal the real political subtext. And in order to concoct something, after much deliberation, they added the topic of state secrets to the case. Under this topic, without any evidence, they subjected Mother Armenia party board member Aregnaz Manukyan to political persecution. She was vilely arrested solely to obtain false testimony against me through psychological pressure. "But here, too, they suffered a defeat, since Manukyan demonstrated integrity and strong will by refusing to give false testimony and denounce me," Tevanyan recalled.

Presenting the other side of the case, he explained that, according to the prosecutor's office, his "guilt" is that he is a political figure who holds opposition views, strives to strengthen the Mother Armenia organization, and has plans to change the government. "Imagine: the indictment sent to the court contains such an indictment. That is, Pashinyan sincerely and directly admits that I was arrested for opposition political activity, and this is 100% political persecution. At all times and in all undemocratic countries, authorities have accused their main ideological and political opponents of treason. So, the Armenian prime minister is not unique: he is far from the first and will not be the last. "In my case, Pashinyan considers it treason to speak out against his government, to support the preservation of Armenian-Russian relations at the strategic and allied level, to support the preservation of the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri, to facilitate the removal of the Civil Contract party from power in Gyumri, to oppose Armenia's unilateral concessions under the guise of border delimitation and demarcation, and to oppose the adoption of a new Constitution at Azerbaijan's behest. This is the true essence of the fabricated case against me; everything else is empty talk," the leader of the Mother Armenia party stated.

The most notable thing about this case, according to Tevanyan, is that it touches not only, and not even so much, on domestic issues as on foreign policy and geopolitical ones. Because, as the politician explained, this case concerns Armenia's security architecture and Armenian-Russian relations, which, under the charges brought against him, are considered hostile. "The prosecution avoids direct language regarding the portrayal of Russia as an enemy state, but the topic of Russia and Armenian-Russian relations runs through this nine-volume hybrid case like a red thread. In fact, it turns out that, by speaking of hybrid threats emanating from Russia and attempting to obtain so-called 'sovereign support' from the anti-Russian geopolitical center under this pretext, the current authorities are referring to the activities of Mother Armenia and me personally. The reality is that the main hybrid threat to Armenia is Pashinyan's policies, which serve the Azerbaijani-Turkish agenda and turn Armenia into a bargaining chip in the geopolitical confrontation," Tevanyan emphasized.

In conclusion, the leader of the Mother Armenia party Tevanyan noted that the course and outcome of this case, without exaggeration, will be of crucial importance, since, as the politician explained, it has a clear geopolitical and security overtones and is based on a classic political article. "This trial will take place amid tensions in Armenian-Russian relations, which Pashinyan is ensuring – at the behest of external forces and to the detriment of Armenia's interests. But I am convinced that Armenia is doomed to victory," Tevanyan concluded.

As a reminder, on May 21, the Investigative Committee (IC) of Armenia announced the initiation of a criminal case against Andranik Tevanyan for "treason and espionage." Tevanyan is accused of transferring information containing state secrets to a foreign state for $622,000. On the night of May 24, Tevanyan was placed under two months' arrest by a court decision. Moreover, according to Tevanyan's lawyer, Aram Orbelyan, there were no legal grounds for placing his client under arrest at the time. It should be added that the opposition figure was detained on the direct orders of the current Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. Tevanyan himself called the investigation's claims absurd, noting that he resigned from his parliamentary mandate back in 2023 and, therefore, such claims by the Investigative Committee are groundless. On July 9, Aregnaz Manukyan, a member of the political council of the Mother Armenia party and former member of the Armenian parliament, was detained and then placed under two-month arrest. According to the Investigative Committee, a public criminal prosecution has been initiated against Aregnaz Manukyan under Part 1 of Article 427 of the Criminal Code (disclosure of information containing a state secret). The investigative actions were carried out as part of a criminal case of espionage and treason, in which Andranik Tevanyan, leader of the Mother Armenia party, was previously arrested. Manukyan is suspected of passing classified information regarding the Armenian Armed Forces to Tevanyan, which was presented at a closed meeting in parliament.

On August 18, the investigation into the case was completed, and the materials were sent to court, however, both Tevanyan and Manukyan remain in pretrial detention.