YEREVAN — Armenia’s second-largest city has erupted into turmoil following the dramatic detention of Vardan Ghukasyan, Gyumri’s elected mayor, in what opposition leaders describe as a politically motivated operation designed to intimidate the public ahead of national elections.
At dawn on Tuesday, heavily armed officers from the National Security Service (NSS) stormed the Gyumri City Hall, forcing Ghukasyan to the ground and detaining him along with seven municipal employees. Witnesses said between 60 and 70 officers participated in the raid, which was conducted by the NSS’s Sixth Department — a division long associated with high-profile political investigations.
Hours later, the Anti-Corruption Committee confirmed that the mayor had been charged not with accepting bribes, but with demanding them — a distinction his lawyer, Aramayis Hayrapetyan, says exposes the case’s weak foundation.
“These charges are baseless and politically fabricated,” Hayrapetyan told reporters. “The so-called recordings are taken out of context and could relate to municipal tax or legalization fees. My client could not have approved illegal constructions, even if he wanted to — the legal window for that closed in 2004.”
According to Hayrapetyan, Ghukasyan’s health deteriorated during interrogation; his blood pressure spiked, and he was denied food, clothing and hygiene supplies, despite suffering from diabetes. Late Tuesday, Judge Vardges Sargsyan of the Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Ghukasyan would remain in pre-trial detention for two months.
As word of the arrest spread, thousands gathered outside City Hall, ringing church bells in protest. The demonstration quickly descended into clashes, with red-beret police units pushing through the crowd and detaining dozens, including Ruben Mkhitaryan, a human rights defender and member of the “Mer Dzevov” (“Our Way”) movement, who was attempting to mediate.
By evening, authorities confirmed 33 arrests, including minors. Several detainees were charged under Articles 327 and 486 of Armenia’s Criminal Code, relating to “interference with justice” and “participation in mass unrest.”
Deputy Mayor Avetis Arakelyan announced a citywide strike and vowed that the municipality would continue to function “under the people’s mandate.”
“This is not an arrest of a man,” Arakelyan declared. “This is an arrest of the people’s will — an attempt by Yerevan to overthrow the results of free elections through force.”
Opposition groups swiftly condemned the events. In a sharply worded statement, the “Hayastan” Parliamentary Alliance described the government’s actions as “another brutal strike against the foundations of Armenian democracy.”
“What we witnessed in Gyumri is the physical manifestation of a government that fears its own citizens,” the statement read. “By detaining a legitimately elected mayor and besieging a city, Prime Minister Pashinyan’s administration is spreading fear to suffocate local self-governance across Armenia. This is a message to every municipality: independence will be punished.”
The Alliance accused Pashinyan of deliberately escalating political pressure ahead of the upcoming Echmiadzin (Vagharshapat) municipal elections, calling Ghukasyan’s detention a “pre-election intimidation tactic designed to terrify voters.”
The “Mer Dzevov” movement, a grassroots civic initiative led by businessman and political prisoner Samvel Karapetyan that advocates regional autonomy and democratic governance, issued an equally stark warning.
“This government has lost the people’s trust,” the movement’s statement declared.
Movement representative Ruben Mkhitaryan — detained during the protests — had earlier warned that “the line between political disagreement and criminal persecution has vanished in Armenia.” His colleagues now say his arrest is meant to silence one of the few remaining public defenders of civil rights in Shirak province.
Ishkhan Saghatelyan, representative of the ARF Armenia Supreme Council and MP from the “Hayastan” Alliance, called the raid “a direct assault on the sovereignty of the people.”
“This is not an operation against Vardan Ghukasyan the individual,” Saghatelyan said. “This is an operation against the citizens of Gyumri, against their ballot, against democracy itself. Pashinyan is attacking the Armenian people’s right to choose their own leaders.”
Saghatelyan urged all opposition forces to unite to prevent what he called “the seizure of power in Armenia’s second largest city.”
“If the people of Gyumri do not defend their mayor today, the rest of Armenia will wake up tomorrow under total dictatorship,” he warned.
The events in Gyumri fit into a broader pattern of politically charged prosecutions targeting opposition figures. Ghukasyan’s son, Spartak Ghukasyan, was arrested in September on extortion charges widely dismissed by supporters as fabricated. In June, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, head of the Shirak Diocese, was also detained, accused of “inciting the violent overthrow of the government.”
The targeting of opposition officials has been consistent since Volodya Grigoryan, mayor of Parakar, was shot dead by masked gunmen in September — a killing that remains unsolved.
Critics point to Pashinyan’s October 1 parliamentary speech, in which he declared that “those who speak against Armenia’s sovereignty must simply be removed from public life.” Many now interpret those remarks as a prelude to the crackdown in Gyumri.
Moscow has reacted cautiously. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that Russia was “closely monitoring developments” in Shirak Province, where it maintains a major military base.
“We hope these developments do not deepen the gap between Armenia’s citizens and its judicial system,” Zakharova stated. “Given the proximity of national elections, a swift and just resolution is essential.”
Across Gyumri, the tolling of church bells has continued for days — a sound residents say has become “the heartbeat of resistance.”
“They are trying to break not only our mayor, but our Armenian spirit,” said a local teacher in an interview with the Weekly. “We are an ancient people. We don’t scare easily.”
For many in Gyumri, the image of their elected mayor dragged from his office by armed officers has become a rallying cry — not just against one arrest, but against what they see as a systematic campaign to dismantle Armenia’s pluralism.
As Deputy Mayor Avetis Arakelyan put it late Wednesday night, standing outside the sealed City Hall: “The government is waging a war on democracy itself. But Gyumri will not kneel.”
Made up charges against an opposition Mayor.
This does not bode well for June 2026 elections.
As they get closer, we will see a combination of EU and American black money and Pashinyan’s thugs try to rig the election.
They did this in Romania and Moldova.
They will try to do this in Armenia.
We must be on hyper-alert.
The enemy of the Armenian Nation is pashoglu and his US/Israeli/Turkic backers. At this point You Torosyan, have to be completely blind or a paid accomplice not to believe this.
Does any patriotic Armenian who has seen;
1) That, the first person who has congratulated
Gyumei mayor on March 2025, was the head of Russian army stationed in Armenia
2) And heard, that the Mayor of Gyumri to declare, “any Armenian who doesn’t support Armenia joining Russia and Belarussia Union of nations is ՞bastered”
3) who was the organiser of muerdering 4 member of Gyumri citizen
4) who has stolen from state to the tune of 102 billion Dram …
Will feel anything but joy and satisfaction about arrest of mayor of Gyumri.
It seems for Armenian Weekly the political party (ARF) interests weigh well above the intrests of Armenian nationhood, I am sure the great leaders of ARF of first republic are revolving in their own graves
It is the Russian garrison in Gyumri that keeps the Turks out.
You want the Russians out?
Don’t complain then when you live as a dhimmi in the Turkish vilayet of Ermenistan.
I wish you could look at Pashinyan with the same critical eye, and see how he has, and he continues to sell out our nation, our lands, our culture, our history and his soul, as well as the souls of people like you.
I still want to believe that you are not an ill intentioned person or an armenian name bearer with no armenian blood, but only an extremely simple minded one.
For over two thousand years Armenia’s tragedy has been the same, a political class that behaves like a tribal clan instead of a national leadership. Whether kings, commissars or modern ‘parties,’ the mentality never changed, self enrichment first, the nation last.
We had thirty years to build a modern, disciplined state, a real army, real institutions. Instead we got villas, offshore accounts, private zoos and stolen national assets, all while outsourcing our security to Russia like a protectorate instead of a sovereign state.
And now, at the most fragile moment in our modern history, Armenia is led by the least competent head of government since independence a man with no strategic background, no military literacy, and no statecraft experience. Nikol Pashinyan was a failed journalist who never even finished his degree, yet acts as if he is a Churchill like statesman lecturing the world. He surrounds himself not with experts, but with obedient amateurs, because real competence threatens his insecurity. Running a village committee would be beyond his management skills , (as stated by Aliyev who openly said” They took advantage of of Nikols incmpetence” ) yet he controls a state facing existential threats.
Meanwhile our diaspora filled with world-class professionals in finance, defense, law, technology and governance has been shut out deliberately, because corrupt clans fear reform more than they fear Azerbaijan. Leadership in Armenia still treats the diaspora as a piggy bank, not a partner.
The mentality inside Armenia has barely evolved, dependency instead of sovereignty, excuses instead of preparation, and selling loyalty to whichever foreign power promises temporary safety. And now Azerbaijan increases its military budget again while Armenia shortens its service term the strategic equivalent of suicide.
Turkey has a century long plan. Azerbaijan has a 20-year plan. Armenia has a 20-minute memory.
Until we replace this culture of amateurism, corruption and dependency with strategic statecraft, professionalism, and national discipline, nothing will change. No foreign saviour is coming. The only guarantee of Armenian survival is Armenian strength with the diaspora not Moscow, not Washington, not Paris only a capable Armenian state with a serious army and leadership proportionate to the threat.” Otherwise prepare to sing Azad yev Ankhag songs again at every event and ceremony, denoucing Turks but never accepting the failures of continued leaders over and over again
This is not bad news at all. This guy was obviously corrupt, and every self-respecting citizen of Gyumri has known this for decades. W Nikol.
Pashinyan has been in office since 2018 and for the last seven years he has not kept just about any and all pre-election promises that he had made in regards to “rampant” corruption in the country to hold those responsible who stole millions and billions from the state treasury and to bring back every dollar stolen. Instead he has been busy destroying the country and desecrating our national values. Those involved in corruption are either beyond his reach or roaming around freely in Armenia. The reason why he, all of a sudden, has shifted his focus to this issue accusing many opposition leaders as well as clergy in sabotaging his leadership under false pretenses by accusing and incarcerating them and various other influential and prominent leaders is because he feels his back is against the wall and is losing control of his manufactured popularity very rapidly so close to upcoming national elections and that is bad news for his re-election campaign to save himself from criminal prosecution.
What is happening in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri is very important because Pashinyan used this city as the Launchpad of his fake so-called “velvet revolution” that has benefited none other than our enemies and that because they got from Pashinyan everything they ever wanted and more at the expense of the Armenian nation. This city symbolizes his “My Step” movement and Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party performing very poorly in the recent municipal elections there failing to secure majority was a clear indication of anti Pashinyan movement. The election result opened the door for an opposition coalition to potentially take control of the city’s administration. This defeat is seen as a major political setback for Pashinyan and a sign of widespread discontent. The mayor’s arrest by Pashinyan’s junta is politically motivated to divert people’s attention from the poor results in Gyumri which was a warning sign ahead of the 2026 national elections. The recent developments in Gyumri are seen by many as a bellwether, an indicator of trends, for the upcoming national vote.