Attorney Aramayis Hayrapetyan, representing Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan and his son Spartak Ghukasyan, has submitted a formal report to the Shirak Regional Investigative Department, according to Aravot.am.
He requested an investigation into Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement from the National Assembly podium, in which he said Ghukasyan should be “expelled from public life.”
Hayrapetyan stated that the case involving Spartak Ghukasyan is “another tool directed against Vardan Ghukasyan,” similar to the prime minister’s earlier remark about removing him from the public arena.
The lawyer argued that while one can be excluded from political life and remain alive, exclusion from public life could only mean, in his interpretation, physical elimination: “A person can be removed from political life while staying alive, but being thrown out of public life—of society itself—can only mean killing.”
He urged investigators to determine whether Pashinyan’s words constituted an incitement to violence or a threat, and whether Spartak Ghukasyan’s prosecution might be part of that pattern.
“At the very least, this is a report about a potential crime, submitted with reasonable suspicion, and the investigator should have launched proceedings to verify it,” Hayrapetyan said, adding that no action or response has been made so far.
According to him, the Investigative Committee’s inaction demonstrates selective enforcement of the law: “It’s obvious that what matters to them is not legality, but political orders.”
Hayrapetyan said his statement acknowledged that the prime minister might have used the expression carelessly or with another intention: “I don’t read the prime minister’s mind, but to clarify this legally, an investigation must be conducted. Maybe it was a poorly chosen phrase—but when you combine it with the murder of an opposition mayor and ongoing pressure on Vardan Ghukasyan, plus the statement about removing him from public life, there are reasonable grounds for concern.”
Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan himself earlier stated that “being expelled from public life” is equivalent to being deprived of life. On October 1, during a question-and-answer session with the government, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: “Those who speak against Armenia’s sovereignty must be expelled from political and public life.”
