Proofs of Nikol Pashinyan’s Complicity in High Treason and Overthrow of Constitutional Order

During the latest session of Armenia’s National Assembly — held in a Question-and-Answer format — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was in attendance. Lusine Badalyan, a member of the Civil Contract parliamentary faction, invited the Prime Minister to respond to a recent statement by Artsvik Minasyan, who claimed to possess evidence that "Nikol Pashinyan is a state traitor."

The Prime Minister responded: “This must be made public. How is such a thing possible? How can a political force claim to have such evidence, take part in parliamentary sessions, ask two fabricated questions, and then just stop halfway…?! There’s an article in the Criminal Code about false denunciation. I will be appealing to the Prosecutor’s Office as well. If these so-called facts are not substantiated, Artsvik Minasyan must be held accountable for false denunciation. Why not?”

In fact, Nikol Pashinyan has handed the opposition a significant opportunity to initiate criminal proceedings against Armenia’s current leadership for actions that bear the hallmarks of high treason, the overthrow of constitutional order, usurpation of power, and efforts to undermine territorial integrity or renounce national sovereignty.

Seizing this opportunity, the Public Tribunal of Armenia presents to its readers the relevant articles from the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia under which Nikol Pashinyan and his team may be held criminally liable.

High Treason

The Republic of Armenia Criminal Code, Article 418:

“High treason, i.e. deserting to the enemy, espionage, handing over information containing a state secret to a foreign state, a foreign or international organization, or their representative, or creating conditions so that the above-mentioned persons can learn that secret, or assisting otherwise in carrying out hostile activities, committed by a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, to the detriment of the sovereignty, territorial inviolability or external security of the Republic of Armenia — shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of fifteen to twenty years or life imprisonment.”

The Public Tribunal of Armenia accuses the Prime Minister of Armenia of high treason based on the following:

Nikol Pashinyan’s deliberate actions in the realm of foreign policy directly contributed to the outbreak of the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. From the very moment he rose to power through the staged “Velvet Revolution” of 2018, Pashinyan pursued a course that steadily provoked confrontation with Azerbaijan. A video narrative capturing the Armenian Prime Minister’s emotional confessions can be found in our article titled “From Provocations to Catastrophes: A Retrospective Video Narrative of Nikol Pashinyan’s Betrayal.”

Pashinyan willfully ignored clear warnings from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) about the looming war - its scope, implications, and the urgent need to request allied support in a preventive capacity.

By ordering the arrest of CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, Nikol Pashinyan severely undermined Armenia’s foreign policy opportunities.

This led to the large-scale war launched by Azerbaijan, backed directly by Turkey, against the Republic of Artsakh on September 27, 2020.

Throughout the 44-day war, as well as in the lead-up and its aftermath, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made numerous public statements, gave interviews, and posted on social media content that included military and state secrets. According to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, such disclosures constitute high treason.

In his address marking the 35th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Armenia on August 23, 2025, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan openly admitted that the war could have been avoided had he accepted the proposal put forth by international mediators. However, prior to the war, on May 6, 2020, Pashinyan misled both the parliament and the public by declaring that there were no proposals involving mutual concessions on the negotiating table.

By recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan on October 6, 2022, Nikol Pashinyan gave Ilham Aliyev the legal and political justification to complete the seizure of Artsakh and carry out the ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population.

Nikol Pashinyan’s actions, culminating in Armenia’s defeat in the 44-day war, followed by a series of unilateral concessions to Azerbaijan after November 9, 2020, including the final handover of Artsakh, have inflicted devastating and irreversible damage to the national security of the Republic of Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan’s actions during his tenure as Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia have led to the following grave consequences:

  • Defeat in the war and the signing of an act of capitulation;
  • Refusal to defend the Armenians of Artsakh, and the recognition of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan - both of which directly contradict Armenia’s foundational state documents;
  • The loss of over 5,000 Armenian servicemen and more than 10,000 soldiers left permanently disabled;
  • The fall of Artsakh and the forced displacement of its Armenian population;
  • The surrender of strategic heights and transport routes within Armenia’s sovereign territory to Azerbaijan.

Thus, the listed actions by Nikol Pashinyan constitute crimes under Article 418 of the RA Criminal Code, including disclosure of information containing a state secret, assisting otherwise in carrying out hostile activities to the detriment of the sovereignty, territorial inviolability, or external security of the Republic of Armenia.

Overthrow of the Constitutional Order

The Republic of Armenia Criminal Code, Article 420

“Overthrow of the constitutional order, i.e., factual termination of action of the norm established in Article 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 or Part 1 of Article 6 or Article 7 of the Republic of Armenia Constitution — 290 shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of ten to fifteen years.”

Public attacks on the Armenian Apostolic Church, the dissemination of materials alleging a plotted coup d’état, the initiation of criminal cases against prominent clergymen and opposition figures, along with their pre-trial restrictions, including detention, form a clear pattern. This chain of events evidences the subordination of Armenia’s law enforcement bodies, the Prosecutor General’s Office, investigative agencies, and the judiciary to the directives of the Prime Minister. Such actions constitute a direct violation of Article 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, which states: “State power shall be exercised in conformity with the Constitution and the laws, based on the separation and balance of the legislative, executive, and judicial powers.” A clear piece of evidence pointing to such actions by the Armenian authorities is the disclosed phone call between Vanetsyan and Khachatryan, in which the NSS chief openly describes how pressure was applied to the judge to force approval of the arrest. Audio records evidence that special services, investigative agencies, and courts have been turned into an instrument of punishment for political opponents.

Violation of Article 420 of the RA Constitution qualifies as the overthrow of the constitutional order and is punishable by imprisonment for a term of ten to fifteen years.