The first court hearing in the case of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, representing the Diocese of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, has begun at the Armavir Regional Court of General Jurisdiction.

Attorney Arsen Babayan stated that the prosecutor initially confirmed that no crime had occurred.

“The act being charged does not constitute a crime; therefore, it is already clear that the criminal prosecution must be terminated, as it should not have been initiated in the first place. We are requesting that the prosecution be stopped immediately,” Babayan said.

Arshak Khachatryan also stated that the accusations against him are based on what he described as the “delusions of certain individuals.”

“A situation arises where there is no physical evidence of a crime, no victim, yet there is a case file. We were previously told that even the drugs were ‘lost,’ the recipient is not present, and the alleged planter is not identified, yet somehow I have appeared in this case. I have not been involved in political activity, but this case is built with elements of pure political persecution; it is obvious that everything is false and fabricated,” he said.

All available polling data indicate that Nikol Pashinyan has lower approval ratings in Yerevan compared to the regions. The data also show that individuals with higher education levels tend to hold more anti-government views, while older citizens are generally more pro-government. Conversely, younger people are more inclined toward opposition positions.

“These and other data points are well known to all political forces. But is the opposition drawing the necessary conclusions? Is it taking these realities into account? Unfortunately, not sufficiently,” said Armen Khachikyan, head of the “Arar” Foundation, in an interview with the program There Are Questions.

According to him, the opposition remains unprepared for unity. “On the contrary, there are forces that, by entering the elections, will only fragment the vote,” he noted.

Khachikyan emphasized that the opposition’s main opportunity lies in mobilizing the “silent majority.” In his view, the most passive segments today are young people and residents of Yerevan.

“The guarantee of the opposition’s victory is the activation of Yerevan and the youth,” he stated.

The full interview is available in the video.

“I’ll tell you in a few days,” the leader of the “Strong Armenia” party, Samvel Karapetyan, told reporters after leaving the court, responding to a question about how he assesses his chances of winning the elections.

It should be noted that the court hearing in Karapetyan’s case has been postponed and is scheduled to resume on April 17.

Armenia has overcome the agenda of survival and struggle imposed on it and has entered a new historical phase focused on peaceful development, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during a session of the National Assembly.

According to him, the country’s current mission is to educate, work, and build a stronger state.

Pashinyan expressed gratitude to members of the Civil Contract Party for making an “epoch-making milestone” possible, while emphasizing that the primary credit belongs to the people.

“I would also like to stress that this became possible, first and foremost, thanks to the support of the people,” he noted.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the current reality has come at a high cost — through numerous victims, sacrifices, hardships, and suffering.

“The phrase ‘Karabakh was ours and is no longer ours’ reflects a philosophy of being trapped geopolitically. The reality is that Armenia was not truly ours and is hence ours. The territories that were under our control were held at the expense of our statehood, sovereignty, and independence – and we failed to fully understand this,” he said.

Pashinyan added that the Civil Contract has ultimately altered the destructive trajectory of Armenia’s history and placed the country on a path toward a more peaceful and constructive future.

Following the 2018 revolution, the most significant criticism directed at the government and the ruling majority has been their inability to achieve results in the field of justice that could be considered satisfactory, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at the 8th meeting of the Armenia-EU Civil Society Platform.

“In the Republic of Armenia, the judicial and justice systems, as well as the broader sense of fairness, lack an organic connection with the highest source of power – the people. This is one of the most important issues we must address in the near future, including through the adoption of a new Constitution,” he said.

According to the Prime Minister, the justice system in Armenia is administered by institutions that remain isolated and lack sufficient accountability and responsibility to the public.

“As a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, I myself do not have a sense of justice and fairness in the country. This is a fundamental problem that we must resolve,” Pashinyan concluded.