“Tomorrow, the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia will send a crime report to the Investigative Committee ... expecting that a criminal case will be initiated against Andranik Tevanian on a treason charge,” Pashinian said late on Wednesday during a campaign trip to the northern Lori province.
“We will finally and completely eradicate this spy network from the Republic of Armenia,” he added without giving any details of the criminal case.
The NSS refused to comment on the case or its actions. For its part, the Investigative Committee told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday afternoon that it has not yet received a relevant report from the NSS.
Tevanian, who is second on the list of election candidates nominated by businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), vehemently denied Pashinian’s allegations and accused the premier of issuing illegal orders to the law-enforcement agencies.
“I don't have any information regarding me,” he told a news conference. “I assume that they are going to launch some processes. They are probably fabricating the case right now.”
In a separate statement, the BHK likewise accused Pashinian of ordering investigators to prosecute Tevanian on trumped-up charges. The development is “unprecedented in Armenia's electoral history,” it said.
Under Armenian law, election candidates cannot be prosecuted without the Central Election Commission’s permission.
Pashinian has repeatedly branded his principal election challengers as Russian spies and pledged to “take out” them on the campaign trail. He accused Moscow on Tuesday of “sending agents to Armenia.”
The BHK and alliances led by former President Robert Kocharian and Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian are widely seen as the main opposition contenders in the June 7 elections. Their leaders claim that with his vicious attacks on them Pashinian is exposing his fears of losing power.