Gyumri mayor charged with voicing support for Armenia`s accession to  foreign alliances 

ArmInfo.  Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan has been charged with new charges for supporting the country's accession to unions with other states. This was stated in a statement by the lawyers for the arrested Gyumri mayor. "For two days, Armenian law enforcement agencies have been considering  initiating a new politically motivated criminal prosecution against  Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan.

Finally, on Saturday, October 25, it became known that more than a  month earlier, on September 16 and 23, 2025, a decision was made to  instigate a new criminal prosecution against Gyumri Mayor Vardan  Ghukasyan for his statements in the courtyard of the RA  Anti-Corruption Court regarding Armenia's accession to a union with  other countries, 'qualifying' them as a public call to renounce the  sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia (under Part 2 of Article 422  of the RA Criminal Code)," the defense of the previously arrested  Gyumri mayor said in a statement. In this vein, the lawyers expressed  their conviction that this charge has no connection with Article 422  of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia and is merely an  example of political persecution for the following simple reason:

"Firstly, Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan, exercising his fundamental  right, merely expressed an opinion, drawing a comparison with other  countries around the world regarding the formation of a mutually  acceptable union. In his speech, Vardan Ghukasyan repeatedly  emphasized the need for this to protect and preserve the independent  statehood of the Republic of Armenia.

His speech is available online. By the same logic, it follows that  all recent statements about the accession of the Republic of Armenia  to the European Union should also be evidence of a crime. Moreover,  Armenia is already a member of several associations, including the  CSTO, the EU, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and other  organizations," the lawyers recalled.

Secondly, the defense further states, this criminal prosecution was  initiated more than a month after this "criminal" position was  expressed, on a Saturday, in connection with actions that took place  just a few days earlier.

The lawyers are confident that this style of law enforcement directly  demonstrates that this charge has no connection whatsoever to legal  principles.

"If this was considered a 'crime,' why was the criminal prosecution  not initiated immediately after this position was expressed, but more  than a month later? Thirdly, it is obvious that this criminal  prosecution, like the previous one, was initiated within the  framework of the order voiced by the Prime Minister of the Republic  of Armenia in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on  October 1, 2025, to remove the elected mayor of Gyumri from political  life.

Fourthly, statements that do not contain elements of violence, which  are essentially just a position, a personal opinion, can never be  classified as a crime in the context of all international standards  and principles developed by the European Court of Human Rights.

Based on the above-mentioned undeniable facts, we condemn the  criminal prosecution and will fight by all possible legal means to  restore the violated justice," the Gyumri mayor's defense stated. As  a reminder, eight Gyumri mayoral employees, led by Mayor Vardan  Ghukasyan, were arrested on charges of large- scale bribery. He was  remanded in custody for two months. Ruben Mkhitaryan, a member of the  "Our Way" movement and human rights activist, was also later  arrested, along with several citizens who attempted to obstruct law  enforcement.

It's worth noting that on October 1, while addressing the Armenian  parliament, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Ghukasyan of  bribing voters and called his election as mayor a misunderstanding,  promising to "rectify this situation."