Hundreds of angry protesters broke into Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s office and the Armenian parliament and ransacked them at the time just hours after the announcement of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh. They condemned the ceasefire agreement as a sellout.
The rioters also beat up and seriously injured Mirzoyan, who now serves as Armenia’s foreign minister.
The sentenced man, Ara Badoyan, was arrested in the wake of the violence and spent nearly two years in detention before being released pending the outcome of his trial. Badoyan will now be sent back to prison because of being found guilty of participating in the beating. His lawyer, Marzpet Avagian, refused to comment on the verdict or say whether he will appeal against it.
Another man, Torgom Asatrian, has been standing a separate trial for the same incident. Asatrian, who was arrested in 2023, denies any involvement in it. His lawyer, Ara Zakarian, said the accusation levelled against him is solely based on Mirzoyan’s incriminating testimony and contradicts videos of the incident used by investigators.
Speaking in the Armenian parliament on Monday, the head of the Investigative Committee, Artur Poghosian, indicated that more men will be charged in connection with the 2020 assault soon. He described the criminal case as one of his top priorities.
Another law-enforcement agency, the National Security Service, indicted about 50 people and arrested 18 of them in the wake of the violent protests. It is not clear how many of them were subsequently tried and convicted.
The riots were followed by weeks of peaceful anti-government demonstrations staged by Armenia’s leading opposition groups. They hold Pashinian responsible for the outcome of the war that left at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead. Pashinian has blamed the defeat on Armenia’s former governments.