Anna Grigorian, a parliament deputy from the opposition Hayastan alliance, said none of those Pashinian allies has been prosecuted as a result of those reports.
“You don't have the political will to hold your own team accountable,” she charged during the Armenian government’s question-and-answer session in the National Assembly.
“In Armenia, the media is not the judicial authority,” replied Pashinian. “Armenia has a judicial authority. If we had acted on media articles, we would have hanged you and expelled you from Armenia altogether.”
“And what do media write about you?” he went on, losing his temper. “Why are you free at all? They write that you are foreign spies. Why are you in this hall in the first place? If I am guided by media reports, I will have to throw all of you into the NSS (National Security Service) basement.”
“You must be the first to go [to the NSS prison] and you will go,” Pashinian told one of the Hayastan lawmakers who shouted back at him. “So sit down and shut up and stop getting on my nerves.”
Armenia - Anna Grigorian of the opposition Hayastan alliance speaks during a parliament session, December 5, 2024.
“We will go after you based on media reports,” Pashinian pledged in an ensuing shouting match that led parliament speaker Alen Simonian to interrupt the session.
“Bring it on,” said Hayastan’s Artur Khachatrian.
“Why are you so nervous about corruption?” another Hayastan lawmaker, Kristine Vartanian, told Pashinian for her part.
Simonian, who is a leading member of the ruling Civil Contract party, accused Vartanian of being disrespectful towards the prime minister and repeatedly threatened to “throw you out of this hall.”
“Behave yourself,” Vartanian shot back. “What are you talking about? Who do you think you are?”
Pashinian has repeatedly had such outbursts on the parliament floor in recent years. In March this year, he threatened to “throw against the wall” and “trample underfoot” Armenia’s three former presidents if they don’t stop blaming him for the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh. One of the ex-presidents, Robert Kocharian, is Hayastan’s top leader.
Pashinian has repeatedly claimed to have eliminated “systemic corruption” in Armenia since coming to power in 2018. However, members of his entourage are increasingly accused by media of using their positions to enrich themselves, their families or cronies.