RA premier sues Strong Armenia party leader over `hallucinogenic  mushrooms`

ArmInfo.  RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is demanding 6 million drams from the leader of the Strong Armenia party, Samvel Karapetyan. The corresponding lawsuit was filed in the Civil Court of Primary Instance, according to a report from the judicial information system Datalex.

According to the source, the lawsuit was filed on May 11 and will be  heard by Judge Yerem Yesoyan.  Specifically, Nikol Pashinyan is  demanding that the court compel Samvel Karapetyan to publicly refute  the slanderous information made against him on May 7, 2026, when the  leader of the Strong Armenia party announced at a press conference  that the prime minister had used hallucinogenic mushrooms.

"I demand that a refutation be published in at least three media  outlets with at least two hundred thousand subscribers on their  YouTube channel, via live video broadcast, under the title  'Refutation of the defamatory information I published about Prime  Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan during the press  conference on May 7, 2026,' with the text specified in the court  decision read out. The refutation must not contain any other  additions or comments from the defendant or third parties, but must  contain only the text of the refutation. If it is impossible to  present the refutation through the specified media, it must be  presented under the same conditions through the Strong Armenia  YouTube channel," the RA Prime Minister's lawsuit states.

Furthermore, Nikol Pashinyan is demanding 6 million drams from Samvel  Karapetyan as compensation for reputational damage.

As a reminder, Samvel Karapetyan stated the following at a press  conference on May 7: "Last year, when the Prime Minister visited  China, there are restaurants there, especially mushroom restaurants,  that cause hallucinations in people. He tried them, liked them, and,  according to my information, he brought about a ton of them back to  Armenia. That's why he uses these mushrooms during meetings with  journalists in the government or when he speaks at the podium in the  National Assembly."

In response, Pashinyan announced that he would sue Samvel Karapetyan,  threatening to "feed" him a ton of mushrooms.