Activists and observers are outraged by the arrest of Artur Osipyan.

A Yerevan court has remanded Artur Osipyan, an activist and refugee from Nagorno-Karabakh who got into an argument with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, to pretrial detention. Observers have identified Osipyan's case as interference by the security apparatus in political processes and called for an end to his prosecution.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resorted to insults and threats in response to questions from refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh during meetings with voters. After this, Armine Soghoyan, a clinic employee who asked about casualties in the Karabakh wars, was asked to resign, and Karabakh activist Artur Osipyan was detained on suspicion of hooliganism following an altercation with the prime minister. Investigators asked the court to arrest Osipyan for two months, charging him with hooliganism, obstructing election campaigning, and public calls for violence. The case of Artur Osipyan demonstrates the disproportionate actions of security forces and the use of selective justice, human rights activists said.

A Yerevan court hearing to consider pretrial detention for Artur Osipyan, who was detained after an argument with Prime Minister, concluded late in the evening on May 20, but the court postponed the announcement of the ruling until the night. It was announced that the decision would be announced after 1:00 a.m. local time (2:00 a.m. Moscow time), a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported.

During the hearing, Osipyan's supporters and friends gathered outside the courthouse. An unknown man attended the protest and lay down on the cobblestones in front of the courthouse entrance with a homemade sign that read, "There is no crime in Artur Osipyan's actions." "None of us know this man; we're seeing him for the first time," noted meeting participant Avet Avetisyan.

Later, lawyer Roman Yeritsyan announced on his Facebook page* that Osipyan had been arrested for two months. "It's a shame the court hearing was closed," he wrote.

The people present outside the court were mostly Osipyan's Karabakh supporters, who had previously attended rallies and protests he organized in Stepanakert, noted Karabakh public figure Tigran Petrosyan. He is convinced that Osipyan's actions are not criminal, and that "Nikol Pashinyan himself must bear responsibility" for his emotional reaction and unfounded accusations, as well as for inciting hatred.

"Not long ago, Mr. Pashinyan called on Artsakh Armenians to fight against the 'robbers of Artsakh.' However, the man who publicly stated that the authorities themselves were sending money to the 'robbers' was arrested on charges of hooliganism. Other attempts by Artsakh residents to protest against the 'robbers' in Yerevan have also ended in arrests," the activist noted.

He called on law enforcement agencies to "hold accountable those who robbed Artsakh," and emphasized that Artur Osipyan did not stage provocations, "but merely expressed disagreement with the prime minister's statements without insults or calls for conflict."

The activist's social media page has been deleted, and his phone number has disappeared.

Artur Osipyan is the family's sole breadwinner; his wife and two minor children depend on him financially, lawyer David Hovhannisyan told the "Caucasian Knot." According to him, the family rents an apartment in Yerevan.

Osipyan has recently been active primarily online: he has broadcast live and posted on Facebook*, primarily about the rights of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia. He has criticized the political decisions of the Armenian authorities in the context of Armenia's security, expressed disagreement with the decision to close the OSCE Minsk Group, and claimed that the Armenian authorities are spreading hostility and hatred toward the people of Karabakh.

After his arrest, Artur Osipyan became unavailable on social media. Osipyan's mobile phone has gone missing – security forces claim the activist did not have it when he was detained, lawyer Roman Yeritsyan told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Observers call for the case against Osipyan to be dropped

The Akanates Observation Mission issued a statement on the case of Artur Osipyan, stating that it is "deeply concerned by manifestations of hate speech and intolerance in political and public discourse." The observers noted that the situation "has become particularly tense in recent days" due to the election campaign.

"We consider the criminal prosecution of Artur Osipyan and the charges brought against him to be unfounded and illegal," reads the statement, published on the mission's Facebook page*.

According to Akanates, Osipyan's statements "contained harsh and sharp political criticism, and in some parts, inappropriate rhetoric," but were still within the bounds of acceptable critical opinion in political discussion. "His opponent, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, expressed equally harsh, and in some cases even harsher, assessments and reactions, which attests to a mutual emotional and political clash," the document notes.

The mission representatives considered Pashinyan's statements regarding internally displaced persons from Karabakh "inappropriate," noting that such statements "once again exacerbate public sentiment and deepen polarization."

"Under such circumstances, the statements of the parties, if necessary, can be assessed solely within the legal context of insult or slander and only at the initiative of the parties themselves. However, they cannot reasonably be classified as hooliganism, obstruction of campaigning, or, especially, as public calls for the use of violence, public justification, or propaganda for violence," the observers concluded, demanding that the unfounded criminal prosecution of Osipyan be dropped. They also called on law enforcement agencies to "refrain from practices that create the appearance of interference in political processes."

The June parliamentary elections in Armenia will effectively be a referendum on the future of Nikol Pashinyan's government and the country's foreign policy course. At stake is the current team's retention of power or its transfer to the opposition, which promises to reconsider key decisions of recent years, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia."