Hraparak daily of Armenia writes as follows, in particular: Yesterday, early in the morning, the media outlet belonging to [PM Nikol] Pashinyan announced that searches were being conducted at about 15 addresses in Yerevan. During the day, law enforcement officers did not elaborate on what criminal case they were searching people’s homes for.

News spread that the reason for the search was the video of “masked terrorists” publicized by Pashinyan the day before—they are searching for weapons and ammunition. Against the background of the Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] flag, 5 people armed with masks and machine guns address Pashinyan in the Artsakh dialect, noting that they know his whereabouts and will punish [him]. The video shocked Pashinyan, he reflected on it during a [election] campaign in Arabkir [district of Yerevan], said that he would find those runaway brats, “shove the masks and machine gun butts in the corresponding places.”

And the IC [i.e. the Investigative Committee] urgently initiated criminal proceedings “On the cases of preparation of murder, carrying out computer sabotage, and illegal circulation of firearms, ammunition by a group of individuals.” Although they are trying to take the video seriously, allegedly threatening Pashinyan’s life, many are convinced that it is the work of the authorities; they have organized to legitimize the persecution to be carried out against oppositionists.

Our law enforcement sources inform that they have already received instructions to carry out widespread arrests and “lock up” opposition activists, since surveys show that the situation of the CC [i.e. Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party] is dire [ahead of the June 7 parliamentary election], so the opposition needs to be weakened.

Source: https://news.am/en/news/1036771