Court Upholds Ghazinyan's Appeal: Criminal Case to Be Launched Against Pashinyan

The newspaper "Pats" reports that on September 22, the judge of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, Tatevik Grigoryan, granted the appeal of Arthur Ghazinyan, the leader of the "One Armenia" party, against the Special Investigative Service.

Ghazinyan had submitted a report of a crime concerning official forgery by Nikol Pashinyan, based on the fact that in a decision made by the Armenian government on March 16, the date of the pandemic was incorrectly stated as March 13 instead of March 11. The Special Investigative Service had previously rejected the initiation of a criminal case.

This apparent mistake, reminiscent of a clerical error, holds significant political implications, as for two days following the World Health Organization declaring a global pandemic, Pashinyan continued his electoral campaign by organizing mass gatherings. According to the report presented by Ghazinyan, in order to conceal this circumstance, the date of the pandemic declaration was deliberately falsified in the government’s decision.

Essentially, based on the court's decision, a criminal case will be opened against Nikol Pashinyan for official forgery. It will become clear within the framework of the criminal case who else, aside from Nikol Pashinyan, may be implicated in this matter.