Armenian authorities detained three employees of Gyumri’s municipal education department on Friday, expanding a wave of arrests that began after opposition Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan was taken into custody earlier in the week.
The Anti-Corruption Committee alleges the women unlawfully instructed kindergarten directors and staff to join Monday’s demonstrations. One of the detainees is the mother-in-law of Karen Sarukhanyan, a Gyumri-based lawmaker from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party who has long criticized Ghukasyan. She joined city hall years before Ghukasyan’s May 30 election win. Sarukhanyan said his relative shares his political views and suggested that, if any wrongdoing occurred, it happened “under coercion.”
In a separate case, the Investigative Committee on Wednesday arrested a municipal division chief and an adviser to the mayor, citing an inquiry into alleged “mass disturbances” and obstruction of justice. Those arrests followed a forceful police raid on city hall to seize Ghukasyan, which was met by hundreds of supporters. Reinforcements, including riot police from Yerevan, clashed with protesters inside and outside the building.
At least 33 people were detained during and shortly after the raid. With Friday’s prosecutions of the three education officials, the total number of arrests has surpassed 40, drawing condemnation from opposition forces. As of Friday, it was unclear how many remain behind bars. The Investigative Committee said late Wednesday it had indicted 29 suspects, with 15 ordered into pre-trial detention.
Separately, Ghukasyan, the city’s chief architect and six others face corruption charges filed three weeks after Pashinyan publicly vowed to remove the mayor. Ghukasyan calls the case politically driven, while opposition leaders argue the broader crackdown aims to overturn election results collectively won by four local opposition groups.
