Armenia on Thursday arrested 10 leadingopposition figures for violently protesting against a Russian-brokered peacedeal that ended weeks of fighting with Azerbaijan and sparked fury with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, reports AFP.
Prosecutors announced the arrests hours ahead of a fresh demonstration bythe opposition against the accord that sees Armenia give up swathes ofdisputed territory in Nagorno-Karabakh to their long-standing foe.
More than 3,000 people converged on the streets of Yerevan Thursdayevening, marching towards the state security service building, which wascordoned off by police, and shouting “Nikol the traitor” and “Nikol resign”. “Pashinyan has sold our homeland and now is trying to stay in power,” NairaZoghrabyan, a deputy from the Prosperous Armenia party, shouted to the crowd.
“Nikol, resign peacefully while it’s still possible,” Zoghrabyan said atthe protest, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.
The 10 opposition politicians face up to a decade behind bars for theirrole in “illegal violent mass disorder”, prosecutors said in a statement.
Protesters stormed and ransacked government buildings on Tuesday overPashinyan’s agreement to end the fighting and took to the streets again intheir thousands on Wednesday to demand the government resign.
Referring to the arrests of at least two of its members, Lilit Galstyanfrom the opposition Dashnaktsutyun party said: “We consider this to be an actof political persecution.”
“This government has no moral right to stay in power,” Galstyan added.
Pashinyan earlier in the week accused the protesters who overran governmentbuildings of being controlled by “oligarchs who were looting our army, oursoldiers, our country for 20 years”.
The 45-year-old former newspaper editor, who swept to power in 2018promising to root out endemic corruption, denounced the demonstrators forstirring up unrest when security services were on the frontlines.
But residents of Nagorno-Karabakh at the demonstration on Thursday saidthey were outraged by the peace deal, having been forced to seek refuge inArmenia due to the fighting.
“We lost our homes. Who will answer for this? We are in despair,” said 39-year-old Siranush Sarkisyan at the protest in Yerevan.
Slavik Esayan, 58, who was also forced to flee his home as fighting ragedbetween separatists and Azerbaijan, said he would not return to Nagorno-Karabakh while there were no security guarantees.
“The authorities of Armenia and Artsakh must be held responsible for this,”he said using the Armenian name for the breakaway province of Azerbaijan.
Fighting between Armenian separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region ofAzerbaijan and Baku’s army erupted in late September and raged for six weeks,leaving more than 1,400 dead and forcing thousands to flee their homes.
Critics of Pashinyan issued an ultimatum for him to resign before midnightWednesday or face a massive protest movement after he agreed in the earlyhours of Tuesday to halt the fighting with Azerbaijan for control of thedisputed region.
The deal stipulates that Azerbaijan’s forces will retain control over areasseized in the fighting, including the second-largest town of Shusha, whileArmenia agreed to a timetable to withdraw from large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russian peacekeepers began deploying to Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday aspart of the terms of the accord and took control of a key transport arteryconnecting Armenia to the disputed province.
Russian military officials said the mission consisting of nearly 2,000troops would put in place 16 observation posts in mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor.
Fighting between ex-Soviet Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists rageddespite several ceasefires brokered by France, Russia and the United Statesthat were left in tatters following mutual allegations of violations hoursafter they were due to take effect.
Azerbaijan has been pushing for Ankara’s involvement in a settlement andTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week his country wouldjointly supervise the ceasefire with Russia.
Turkey, a staunch ally of Azerbaijan, was widely accused by Westerncountries, Russia and Armenia of dispatching mercenaries from Syria tobolster Azerbaijan’s army.
Russia has thrown cold water on Ankara’s ambitions to play a key role inthe peacekeeping mission and on Thursday Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saidTurkey would instead monitor the mission from an observation centre onAzerbaijan’s territory.
“No peacekeeping units of the Turkish Republic will be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh,” Lavrov said.
Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Paris would send aplaneload of humanitarian aid to Yerevan, after he hosted members of thecountry’s Armenian diaspora for dinner at his Elysee Palace residence.
Macron has previously said France stands “by Armenia’s side”.
