Armenian law enforcement agencies have detained 14 activists of the Strong Armenia opposition party, led by Russian oligarch Samvel Karapetyan. The head of the party's office has been charged with violating the legal ban on charitable donations, according to party spokesperson Ghramanyan.
On April 15, during a speech at a meeting of the Armenia-EU civil society platform in Yerevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that his country "will not experience justice and impartiality" because its judicial system "has no organic connection with the highest source of power—the people."
"We must resolve this problem in the near future by adopting a new Constitution," the head of government concluded.
According to him, the justice system in Armenia "is largely governed by institutions that are isolated and lack sufficient accountability and responsibility to the people."
Pashinyan previously proposed removing the reference to the Declaration of Independence from the new Constitution, citing that it hinders a peace agreement with Azerbaijan due to potential territorial claims, particularly to Karabakh. According to the Armenian prime minister, strengthening peace must prevent a return to previous realities, and in this context, domestic political processes in both Armenia and Azerbaijan play an important role.
Regarding the country's accession to the European Union, Pashinyan noted in his platform that Yerevan does not intend to "blackmail" Brussels with demands for rapid EU accession.
"We have adopted a law to launch the EU accession process, but our strategy is that we will not resort to blackmail, saying, 'If we've adopted the law, then you have to admit us to the EU in a month,'" Pashinyan stated.
On the same day, EU ambassadors approved the deployment of a new civilian mission to Armenia. It will advise the country's security agencies on resilience to various threats, from cyberattacks to information manipulation.