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Opposition Pativ Unem faction head Hayk Mamijanyan denounced the fabricated and politically motivated trial of his fellow politician Armen Ashotyan, deputy chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) as he spoke to reporters outside the Yerevan court holding a hearing in his case on Monday.

The lawmaker accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of “taking revenge on one of his most frightening political opponents.”

He said a large number of people, including former President of Colombia Andrés Pastrana, Georgia’s ex-Foreign Minister Giorgi Tsereteli, Armenia’s former Prime Minister Khosrov Harutyunyan, Chairman of the Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian, opposition MPs Aghvan Vardanyan, Asram Krpeyan, Gegham Manukyan, Anna Mkrtchyan, Tigran Abrahamyan and Mamijanyan himself had offered personal guarantees for Ashotyan’s release.

“But decisions are made far away from this court building, at mansions under the influence of alcohol," Mamijanyan said, declining to predict whether the court would release Ashotyan.

Referring to Pashinyan's recent visits to school gyms where he was upset by many flaws in renovation works, the MP said: "In Pashinyan's opinion, border security, the army issues and the military service conditions are less important than showers."