Andranik Tevanyan

Facts and Justification

On May 23, 2026, Andranik Tevanyan, the chairperson of the “Mother Armenia” party and the second candidate on the ballot of the “Prosperous Armenia” (PAP) party for the parliamentary elections, was arrested and subsequently remanded in custody. He was charged with treason and disclosing illegally obtained information containing a state secret.

The Armenian Center for Political Rights assesses that the primary purpose of the persecution against A. Tevanyan is political. The justifications for this assessment are presented below.

Initiation of Criminal Prosecution and Deprivation of Liberty

The criminal prosecution and subsequent deprivation of liberty of A. Tevanyan directly stemmed from a public statement made by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. On May 20, 2026, during a pre-election rally of his party in Vanadzor, Nikol Pashinyan stated the following․

I will not talk much today about their “passions of spies,” which I spoke about in different communities of Lori province today. Today I want to say something else. You know that there is the second number on the PAP list, Andranik Tevanyan. Tomorrow, the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia will send a report on the crime to the Investigative Committee in the prescribed manner, expecting that a criminal case will be initiated against Andranik Tevanyan under the article of treason.
[Applause]
And we will eventually eradicate this spy network completely and thoroughly from the Republic of Armenia.

N. Pashinyan, Vanadzor, 20.05.2026

Two days later, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia (IC) issued a statement․

During 2024, recruited by foreign special services, under the instruction of the representative of foreign special services, who is the director of the “Russia-Caucasus” geopolitical center, he committed espionage during the same period, and also collected and transferred to the latter, in exchange for a sum of particularly large amounts of 622 thousand US dollars, information containing state secrets regarding the course and results of the closed, secret session held in the NA in April 2024, translated into Russian.

On the same day, by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia, A. Tevanyan was deprived of his immunity as a Member of Parliament, was arrested, and subsequently detained. Later, A. Tevanyan’s teammate, Areghnaz Manukyan, was also arrested on charges of disclosing state secrets. According to law enforcement officials, the alleged state secret pertains to the issues discussed during the closed session held in the NA in April 2024 on the topic of delimitation.

Change in Charges

In September 2026, the preliminary investigation of A. Tevanyan’s case was completed, and it was sent to court. At the conclusion of the preliminary investigation, several circumstances in the indictment were significantly altered. Firstly, the allegation of being recruited by foreign special services was removed. According to the defense attorney, the charges were changed such that A. Tevanyan transferred the information in question to a non-governmental organization. Additionally, the claim that A. Tevanyan received 622 thousand US dollars was removed from the indictment. According to the defense attorney, evidence for such a claim was absent from the very beginning of the proceedings, and the amount was taken from the preliminary budget of a grant program prepared by A. Tevanyan, which he never received.

Secrecy of Proceedings

A more detailed examination of the content of the charges against A. Tevanyan is impossible at this stage, as they are shrouded in the regime of “state secret”. The court rejected the defense side’s motion to hold the trial in open session. Consequently, even the parts of the trial that do not concern state secrets will be conducted in closed hearings.

Evidence Indicating Political Motivation

Compiling the publicly available facts, however, outlines the political motivation underlying the persecution.

• Firstly, the criminal prosecution began immediately after Prime Minister N. Pashinyan’s public instruction to the National Security Service (NSS) during the election campaign.

  During the election campaign, N. Pashinyan periodically threatened political opponents with criminal prosecutions and retribution. The main targets of his threats were the leaders of the three opposition parties in the elections—the “Strong Armenia” alliance, the “Armenia” alliance, and the PAP—but A. Tevanyan was the only one who was subjected to criminal prosecution and imprisoned immediately following a direct instruction from N. Pashinyan.

  Accusing and imprisoning a key figure of one of the main rival political parties during the election period for “treason” could itself have a significant impact on the voters’ will and increase the ruling party’s chances of achieving a more favorable result in the elections. Details of the threats of retaliation against opponents during the 2026 NA election campaign are available in the statement of the ACPR dated May 19, 2026.

• Secondly, there is a significant time lag between the commission of the act attributed to A. Tevanyan and the initiation of criminal prosecution, which is inconsistent with the logic of reacting to such serious crimes as “treason” and “disclosing state secrets.”

  As reported by the IC, the criminal prosecution pertains to the NA session held in April 2024. Although the materials obtained as a result of operational intelligence activity, have a time limitation for application in criminal proceedings (at most four months before the initiation of the proceedings for justifying an accusation of a grave crime and eight months for an accusation of an especially grave crime), no time limitation applies to cases of “treason” (see Article 97, Part 10 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the RA). The NSS has not reported when exactly the information was obtained, on the basis of which the crime report was submitted. Consequently, it is possible that the information was obtained precisely in 2024 and kept in storage to initiate criminal prosecution at a more “favorable” time. As noted, initiating criminal prosecution during the election period served the interests of the ruling party, and the NSS submitted the crime report upon N. Pashinyan’s public instruction.

• Thirdly, the significant alteration of the charges. The allegation of being paid a large sum for the transfer of state secrets could have significantly altered the public perception of the case. As noted, the statements by N. Pashinyan and the IC were made during the election campaign, just 18 days before the elections. Accusing a leader of an opposition party of transferring state secrets for money could have significantly reduced the votes for the PAP. Considering that the part about receiving money is no longer in the indictment, and according to the defense, evidence for it was absent from the very beginning of the proceedings, it becomes more substantiated to conclude that this allegation was included in the IC’s statement for propaganda purposes during the initial (pre-election) period. It is hard to imagine that the NSS and IC could not have properly verified the truth of receiving or not receiving the money, given that the proceedings concerned an event that occurred two years prior, yet the segment about receiving money was refuted during the preliminary investigation that lasted only three months, after the elections.

Considering these circumstances, we conclude that the persecution of A. Tevanyan involves a purpose to reduce the public support for the PAP, a participant in the elections. Therefore, it is necessary to assess whether the political purpose was predominant.

Predominant purpose of persecution

The ACPR assesses that the composition of the Parliament as a result of the 2026 elections in the Republic of Armenia was not formed in accordance with the requirements of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia.

Although the PAP had received sufficient votes to overcome the 4 percent threshold established by the Electoral Code, the party was excluded from Parliament as a result of the annulment of the election results in three polling stations and the failure to schedule a repeat vote in violation of the law. The ACPR covered the results of the 2026 NA elections in more detail in its statement of July 9, 2026.

By thwarting the entry of the third opposition party into Parliament, the ruling Civil Contract party obtained three-fifths of the total number of parliamentary votes, which preserved the opportunity to make decisions on almost any issue (except for amendments to certain articles of the Constitution and a referendum on amending the most important articles) unilaterally and to elect any state official. A review of the political environment during the election period makes it clear that obtaining not only a qualified but also a constitutional majority in Parliament was a paramount goal for the political party led by N. Pashinyan.

The 2026 NA Elections and the Ruling Party’s Expectation of Favorable Results

During the highly polarized pre-election period, the main thesis circulated by N. Pashinyan was the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, asserting that this was possible exclusively under the condition of the ruling party led by him remaining in power. The establishment of peace was the main point of the Civil Contract’s election program and was even included in the program’s title. Here, it is important to examine what the ruling party considered the prerequisites for establishing peace.

In general, N. Pashinyan labeled the three opposition political parties (the “Strong Armenia” alliance, the “Armenia” alliance, and the PAP) that received the largest number of votes as the “tri-headed party of war,” insisting that they should not enter Parliament. This thesis was consistent with Pashinyan’s statement, in which he claimed that if his party did not have a constitutional majority (at least two-thirds of the total number of deputies) in Parliament, there would be a “disastrous war” in September 2026.

The connection between the constitutional majority and the “disastrous war” stemmed from N. Pashinyan’s goal of amending the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and removing the reference to the Declaration of Independence from it. Pashinyan and his teammates had circulated this thesis in previous years, asserting that the reference in the Declaration of Independence to the joint decision of the Armenian SSR Supreme Council and the Artsakh National Council on the “Reunification of the Armenian SSR and the Mountainous Region of Karabakh” could become a cause for military conflict with Azerbaijan. The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, also considers the constitutional amendment a prerequisite for a peace treaty:

“Formally, the peace agreement was not signed for one particular reason, that there is still a provision in Armenian Constitution, which puts under doubt Azerbaijan’s territory Integrity. So they will make amendment, as far as we understand. And as soon as this amendment to Constitution is done and territorial claims to Azerbaijan are deducted from the Constitution, the formal peace agreement will be signed.”

Ilham Aliyev, interview with Al Arabiya

In the post-election period, as a result of the decisions of the Central Election Commission and the Constitutional Court, which bypassed the direct requirements of the Electoral Code (invalidating the results of polling stations No. 10/51, 35/65, and 12/13 and not calling for a repeat vote in violation of the law), the PAP was unlawfully excluded from Parliament, failing to overcome the 4% threshold by only 156 votes. As a result of the third opposition party being excluded from Parliament, the parliamentary mandates were distributed in such a way that although the political party led by Pashinyan did not receive a constitutional majority, it obtained more than three-fifths of the deputies (a qualified majority). The ACPR detailed the results of the 2026 NA elections in its statement dated 09.07.2026.

Without a constitutional majority (two-thirds of mandates), the CC cannot unilaterally initiate a constitutional amendment. However, the pre-election and post-election developments directly indicate that achieving this goal was paramount, during which the requirements of the Electoral Code were significantly violated, allowing the ruling party to secure at least a qualified majority (three-fifths of mandates). The presentation of the “state treason” charge against the political figure in the second position on the opposition party’s list during the election period (just 18 days before the elections) could not have failed to impact the voters’ will, especially considering that the ruling party’s receipt of a qualified majority was conditioned by the PAP’s failure to overcome the threshold by only 156 votes. In this context, the subsequent removal of several “aggravating circumstances” from the charge—being recruited by foreign special services, receiving payment for transferring state secrets—in turn testifies that these were initially included for propaganda purposes—to reduce support for the PAP in the elections. The ACPR assesses this to be the predominant purpose of the criminal prosecution against Andranik Tevanyan.

Political motives of the persecution

● To reduce public support for the “Strong Armenia” alliance, a participant in the 2026 NA elections.
● To attempt to “legitimize” the election results by excluding the PAP from Parliament and ensuring the ruling Civil Contract party has qualified majority in Parliament.

Additional Information