Artūrs Vanecjans, the leader of the opposition party “Dzimtene”, has been arrested in Armenia and accused of planning the assassination of the prime minister, Vanecjan’s lawyers announced on Sunday.
Vanecyan was arrested on Saturday after being called to the headquarters of the Armenian security forces, his lawyers revealed.
They denied the accusations against Vanecjan and said it was persecution.
Vanecyan will accuse Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of plotting power and seizing power.
Vanechyan, who previously led Armenia’s secret services and is believed to have close ties with Russia, was also temporarily detained last week along with other opposition leaders.
Pashinyan has faced widespread protests and sharp public criticism for an agreement with Azerbaijan on a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement of 9 November stipulates that the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies will remain in the final stages of the escalation of the conflict, which means that the southern part of Nagorno-Karabakh’s main territory and the entire southern buffer zone will remain under Azerbaijani control.
All Armenian-controlled areas of the security buffer zone must also be handed over to Azerbaijan by 1 December.
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