Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General said a prosecutor overseeing the controversial criminal case against Artur Osipian ordered his release from custody in view of appeals from civic activists. The move followed calls for his release made by Justice Minister Srbuhi Galian and human rights ombudswoman Anahi Manasian earlier in the day. Manasian also visited Osipian at Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison.
Pashinian reacted furiously when Osipian approached him and criticized his policies on Karabakh during an election campaign engagement in Yerevan on May 18. Moments after his supporters and bodyguards dragged away Osipian, Pashinian picked up a megaphone and rushed towards the Karabakh Armenian man, shouting insults and threats also addressed to “Karabakh pseudo-elites.”
“You should have died when there was the Karabakh issue. Why are you alive at all, you scumbag?” cried the premier.
Osipian was arrested and indicted hours after the incident. Armenia’s Investigative Committee claimed that he disrupted public order and obstructed the ruling Civil Contract’s election campaign. It also charged him with calling for a violent attack on Pashinian in a social media post in March.
Osipian, who denies the accusations, went on hunger strike to protest against his arrest and demand an apology from Pashinian. The latter rejected the demand late last month, saying that the Karabakh Armenian himself should apologize to him.
Osipian’s lawyer, Davit Hovannisian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that his client did not end the hunger strike even after being set free. Still, Osipian reportedly promised afterwards to stop refusing food.
Osipian refused to be examined by prison doctors a week ago despite growing concerns for his health. Hovannisian called for his transfer to a civil hospital.
Osipian’s arrest has been condemned by opposition groups and more than a dozen Western-funded Armenian civic organizations. In a joint statement issued late last month, they said he is prosecuted on “illegal, baseless and politically motivated” charges and demanded his immediate release.