Meanwhile, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinian still indicated no plans to fire the Nor Nork district chief, Tigran Ter-Margarian, and thus risk losing his majority in the municipal council.
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party had to team up with the Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party to install Avinian as mayor in the wake of its worse-than-expected showing in a 2023 municipal election. Hanrapetutyun members were appointed to run Nor Nork and another district, Malatia-Sebastia, as part of that power-sharing deal.
In what was widely construed as a warning to Civil Contract, the Malatia-Sebastia chief, Romik Mkhitarian, said on Thursday that he and all other officials affiliated with Hanrapetutyun will resign if Ter-Margarian is sacked.
Andranik Tevanian, who leads one of the two opposition groups represented in the city council, claimed that Pashinian’s party will not dare to punish the violent official because it is “terrified” of the prospect of a snap election in Yerevan.
“If Civil Contract and Nikol Pashinian in particular are not afraid of a snap election in Yerevan, they should hold it and let our citizens decide whether authorities have a right to beat up citizens,” said Tevanian.
“We don’t succumb to blackmails,” countered Levon Levonian, a council member representing Civil Contract.
The Hanrapetutyun leader, Aram Sarkisian, insisted, for his part, that his party will not bring down the current Yerevan mayor even if Ter-Margarian does lose his post.
“Even if we resign from our positions, we will remain loyal to the coalition memorandum and will not hand over the capital to Russian subjects,” said Sarkisian.
The Nor Nork chief held on to the post also because law-enforcement authorities refrained from arresting him despite formally charging him and three other local officials with assaulting the blogger, Artur Chakhoyan, in the district administration building on Wednesday.
Investigators also indicted Chakhoyan in connection with another, nonviolent incident that happened there on Tuesday. The activist critical of the Yerevan municipality remained in hospital on Friday, recovering from injuries sustained during the violent attack caught on cameras.
Hanrapetutyun, which has been campaigning for Armenia’s accession to the European Union, has effectively defended Ter-Margarian’s violent conduct, calling them a legitimate response to a Russian-backed “provocation.” Mayor Avinian’s office has condemned the assault while accusing the blogger of provoking it.
“This is a very clear message by the mayor to other district heads: sort out issues in this way; from now on, violence is an acceptable method of dealing with issues,” said Grigor Yeritsian, a leading member of the second opposition group holding seats in the city council.
Artur Sakunts, a veteran human rights campaigner, likewise condemned the authorities’ efforts to rationalize the beating and their failure to sack Ter-Margarian.
“All those people who think that … that violence, that method is permissible and justified have no place [in the municipal government] and must also resign,” Sakunts told reporters.