Sirvard Gevorgian, who was appointed as deputy justice minister just three weeks ago, announced her resignation on Thursday after over two dozen lawmakers from the ruling Civil Contract party signed a petition calling on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to fire Minasian.
A key reason for the unprecedented initiative is Minasian’s choice of Gevorgian for the ministerial position, which was approved by Pashinian on September 6. Many government loyalists suspect her of sympathizing with Robert Kocharian, a former Armenian president now leading the main opposition Hayastan alliance.
Gevorgian denied having ties to Kocharian after it emerged that she had attended in 2019 the public presentation of the ex-president’s book. Minasian on Thursday blamed her resignation on “extremely unfair and petty attacks by some individuals.”
“The best manifestation of parliamentarianism would be targeted political accountability for such scheming,” the embattled minister wrote on Facebook in a clear dig at the pro-government lawmakers seeking his ouster.
Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the parliament committee on defense and security, is understood to be one of those lawmakers. He described Minasian’s comment as “very unacceptable and dangerous.”
“The justice minister is accusing deputies of the National Assembly of scheming … I think that if Mr. Minasian remains minister, he must come here and clarify which deputies are engaged in scheming,” Kocharian told reporters.
The petition calling for Minasian’s resignation was initiated by two other deputies from Pashinian’s party. Kocharian said they have collected enough signatures to force a formal discussion of the minister’s political future by the party’s leadership.
Pashinian has not yet commented on their demand. Minasian has also declined to comment on the matter.
Minasian, 40, was appointed as justice minister two years ago despite the fact that his father Ara and brother Mikael fled Armenia in 2018 to avoid prosecution on corruption charges.
Mikael Minasian is a son-in-law of former President Serzh Sarkisian. He enjoyed considerable political and economic influence in the country during Sarkisian’s rule.