The 18-year-old Davit Minasian was rushed to a Yerevan hospital after reportedly passing out following his transfer to a juvenile institution just north of the Armenian capital in the morning. He already lost consciousness and spent a few hours in another hospital before being taken to an adult prison on Wednesday.
Minasian was arrested and charged with hooliganism and obstruction of Pashinian’s “political activities” after an incident that marred a Plam Sunday Mass in St. Anne’s Church. The church was packed with worshippers when Pashinian unexpectedly arrived there with his bodyguards and loyalists. The bodyguards had to clear the way for his passage. A visibly annoyed Minasian told them not to push him and said he wants to keep “standing in the middle” of the church.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he then told Pashinian before stretching a hand towards his shoulder.
Minasian was punched and knocked down by one of the bodyguards as Pashinian left the church amid angry cries from other believers. Pashinian defended the violent response on Thursday amid continuing opposition claims that he himself ordered the young man’s arrest and prosecution.
Minasian’s latest hospitalization added to concerns about his health and sparked more calls for his release from custody. His lawyers maintain that he must not be held in pretrial detention because of suffering from an undiagnosed chronic allergy. A Yerevan court ignored their pleas when it sanctioned the detention on Wednesday.
The judge who made the decision, Mnatsakan Martirosian, is notorious for jailing political opponents of the current and former Armenian governments. Martirosian, 63, has presided over many politically charged trials ever since taking the bench 27 years ago. He has handed down guilty verdicts in virtually all of those cases. In 2023, Martirosian was promoted to become the chairman of Armenia’s largest court of first instance.