Sevak Khachatryan, head of the opposition “Victory” alliance in the Vagharshapat City Council, said at an urgent press conference that more than 10 citizens have been detained following law enforcement actions that began early in the morning in the enlarged Vagharshapat community, Sputnik Armenia reports.
“The number of detainees already exceeds ten, but I cannot give an exact figure because it is increasing every minute. There are people among them whom I don’t understand why they were targeted — they neither conducted active campaigning nor were they on our list. As far as I’ve heard, they are accused of directing voters. I do not have precise information about the charges; our lawyers will issue a separate statement,” he said.
Khachatryan described the situation as unclear, noting that the operations are taking place four to five months after the local self-government elections in Vagharshapat.
“I think the authorities are afraid — perhaps they should measure their level of fear. Maybe this is also linked to the parliamentary elections scheduled for June. They are trying to pressure and intimidate people, to send a message that anyone holding opposition views will face repression, detention, or arrest,” he stated.
He denied that any illegal acts had been committed by members of his team, claiming that attempts to fabricate cases had failed due to lack of grounds. According to him, the authorities are seeking to sow division within their ranks and silence relatives of citizens with opposing views.
Khachatryan did not rule out further arrests or restrictive measures. He said that no current council members have been detained so far, though several candidates from their electoral list have been taken into custody. He also stated that searches had not yielded any material evidence.
According to him, the detainees are currently being held at police stations and investigative bodies.
Earlier, Khachatryan had written on Facebook that searches and arrests were underway against citizens with opposition views, initially reporting at least five detentions.
Local self-government elections in Vagharshapat were held on November 16, 2025.
