Ruben Hakobian briefly spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service as he was being taken to a police station in Yerevan in the morning. Hakobian said he is prosecuted for his statements made in 2024. Police officers did not allow him to comment further.
Hakobian, 70, was released from policy custody several hours later. The Investigative Committee said he is prosecuted for posting on the Internet comments “aimed at inciting hatred, intolerance and hostility.” The law-enforcement agency did not elaborate on the accusation or confirm whether it stems from what he said two years ago. Hakobian’s lawyer, Varazdat Harutiunian, dismissed the charge.
“It’s Article 329 [of the Armenian Criminal Code,] which is widely used against opponents of the current authorities,” he said.
A former member of the Armenian parliament currently not affiliated with any party, Hakobian was already arrested in July last year on charges of calling for a violent overthrow of Armenia’s government. The charges stemmed from his interview with a pro-opposition TV channel in which he accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of systematically violating Armenia’s laws and said Armenians have therefore a legitimate right to revolt against their government.
The veteran politician was released from jail at the start of his trial in August. In a subsequent verdict, a Yerevan court fined him about 3 million drams ($8,000), rejecting prosecutors’ demand for a 3-year jail sentence. Both sides to the trial appealed against the ruling.
Hakobian’s son Samvel linked the latest criminal case to the June 7 parliamentary elections in which he ran as a candidate of former President Ronbert Kocharian’s Hayastan alliance.
“I’m not surprised by what they are doing because we thought that if Pashinian succeeds in holding on to power he will go after oppositionists,” Samvel Hakobian said, describing the case as a “clear infringement on freedom of speech and pluralism.”
Samvel Karapetian, a billionaire leading the main opposition Strong Armenia alliance, was likewise charged with calling for a violent regime change after condemning Pashinian’s crackdown on the Armenian Apostolic Church in June 2025. The same charge has been brought against Gyumri-based Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian and about a dozen other people critical of Pashinian.