Ashot Gayane Hakobyan, detained on suspicion of abducting the son of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, was transported to a hospital for evaluation. The information comes from DEA News, citing the detention lawyer Ruben Melikyan, who leads the human rights organization Legal Path. The news report notes that Hakobyan’s health worsened gradually while in police custody, leading to an ambulance transfer to a medical center with police accompaniment. The lawyer described a sizable gathering of Hakobyan’s supporters outside the medical facility, underscoring the public attention surrounding the case.
The attorney representing Hakobyan contends that the official narrative surrounding an attempted kidnapping involving Ashot Pashinyan is not credible. He described Hakobyan as a middle-aged woman of average build, arguing that such a person would not be capable of overpowering a healthy adult male. The assertion challenges the authorities’ account and pushes for a closer look at the circumstances of the incident.
Earlier updates indicate that the Armenian Investigative Committee received a statement from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan alleging an attempted kidnapping of Ashot. Following this submission, judicial actions were initiated to investigate the allegations. Current inquiries are focused on establishing the sequence of events, the method of the alleged abduction, and the roles of those detained. At this stage, four individuals have been detained on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping attempt, with none of them admitting guilt.
On May 17, pro-government Armenian media reported an alleged incident involving members of a group known as the Sons’ Call. They claimed that a 23-year-old man was placed into a vehicle but managed to escape by leaping from the car, suffering a leg wound in the process. The alleged assailants then fled the scene. People’s activists have suggested that Ashot Pashinyan may have entered the vehicle at the urging of Gayane Hakobyan, the mother of a soldier who died in the Second Karabakh War. Human rights advocates have also reported that security forces were withdrawn to the Sons’ Call office area and that activists were detained in connection with the broader event. The unfolding situation continues to draw attention from observers and raises questions about the timing and credibility of various claims surrounding the incident.