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Information security expert Tigran Kocharyan claims the West turns a blind eye to persecution of opposition figures in Armenia because Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is its “scion”.

“Civil society in Armenia has been long nurtured for this very purpose: so that when they come to power, they can do whatever they want," Kocharyan told reporters at a protest outside the Armenian Foreign Ministry demanding the release of Armenian political prisoners held in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Kocharyan said incarcerated opposition politician Armen Ashotyan, deputy chair of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), once told him about a conversation he had with his European colleague. The latter confessed that European structures would not step in if any “forceful actions” were taken against Ashotyan, because Nikol Pashinyan is "their man”.

"He is their scion, that’s why they are turning a blind eye to all this. There are fewer human rights defenders in Armenia currently, all the Western embassies are turning a blind eye to brutalities by the authorities. This will continue until a change of power in Armenia or its demise," the expert stated.