Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, visibly unhinged, screams at a citizen during a rally in Yerevan on May 18 (Video grab)
Hours after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan raged against a woman during his election campaign event, he unleashed his fury on an Artsakh Armenian who approached him during another event on Monday.
Arthur Osipyan, the Artsakh Armenian who approached the prime minister, was later arrested and charged with “hooliganism.” Osipyan was a vocal opponent of Artsakh’s last regime, which Pashinyan overtly supported prior to the war.
Yet prosecutors in Armenia announced on Tuesday that they are not investigation Pashinyan for threatening to “kill” his political opponents during the confrontation he had on Monday with the woman, Dr. Arpine Soghoyan, whose brother, senior military medic Hrant Papikyan, has been missing since the 2020 Artsakh War.
Pashinyan reacted with rage against Osipyan who approached Pashinyan to ask him about his support for Artsakh from 2018 to 2020.
The heated exchange resulted in Osipyan being dragged away.
Pashinyan then rushed toward Osipyan, picked up a megaphone and began hurling and shouting insults.
“These Karabakh pseudo-elites must get the hell out of here,” Pashinyan screamed. “What are you doing here? … You should have died when there was the Karabakh issue. Why are you alive at all, you scumbag?”
Osipyan’s attorney, Roman Yeritsyan, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that his client was detained overnight.
“At this moment he is at the Arabkir police department,” Yeritsyan said adding that Osipyan’s phone is switched off and his Facebook account has been blocked.
—
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Edgar Tavakalian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
Direct link to this article: https://www.armenianclub.com/2026/05/20/you-should-have-died-when-there-was-the-karabakh-issue-pashinyan-unleashes/