The Civil Court of Yerevan has accepted for proceedings a defamation lawsuit lodged by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan against Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the Strong Armenia Alliance, according to court documents. 

Karapetyan, whose Strong Armenia Alliance is running for parliament in the June 7 elections, last week alleged that Pashinyan had brought “one ton of hallucinogenic mushrooms” from China, which he allegedly uses before every speech, and said the prime minister’s statements should not be taken seriously.

Pashinyan rejected the allegations in a video posted on Facebook. He said on Thursday that he had filed a lawsuit against Karapetyan.

The Armenian PM is asking the court to order Samvel Karapetyan to publicly retract his statement and to pay 6 million drams in compensation for non-pecuniary damage caused by defamation.