MP detained after hostile TV interview with Armenian PM

ARMENIAN police yesterday detained an opposition MP after 10 days of antigovernment protests and accusations of a power grab levied against Serzh Sargsyan, the prime minister.

Nikol Pashinyan was picked up by officers at a demonstration in Yerevan, following a televised interview between him and Mr Sargsyan, which the prime minister cut short.

Police said: “Despite repeated calls to stop illegal rallies, Pashinyan continued leading a demonstration”.

It added that he and two other opposition politicians “were forcibly taken from the site”.

The prosecutor general’s office said that Mr Pashinyan and the other two “were detained as they were committing socially dangerous acts”.

As an MP, Mr Pashinyan is protected by parliamentary immunity and cannot be arrested without the approval of lawmakers. His whereabouts are currently unclear. His detention came on the 10th day of mass protests against Mr Sargsyan, who became prime minister on April 17 after two five-year terms as president. In 2015, Mr Sargsyan tabled a controversial reform handing the main powers to the prime minister, a move that opposition supporters consider a power grab.

Mr Pashinyan challenged Mr Sargsyan to a debate at a hotel in Yerevan yesterday, during which the prime minister said he was pleased the protest leader had “responded to my numerous appeals to negotiate”.

However, Mr Pashinyan replied that there had been a misunderstanding, and he only wanted to discuss the terms of the leader’s resignation and the “terms of a peaceful and smooth transition of power”.

Mr Sargsyan, Armenia’s former head of defence, stormed out of the interview, pointing out that Mr Pashinyan’s party won only eight per cent of the vote, and accused him of “blackmail”.