Sisian volunteer unit commander Ashot Minasyan, charged with conspiring to assassinate Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and seize state power, was arrested today in Yerevan.

Armenian law enforcement agencies, in November 2020, said they had uncovered a plot to kill Pashinyan.

Minasyan (aka Ashot Yerkat-Iron Ashot) and former Armenian National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsyan were detained at the time and later released.

Following Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 Artsakh war, Minasyan accused Pashinyan of being “arrogant and an inept leader.”

"The failed commander-in-chief appointed people who were not able to run their relevant spheres, starting from the military, economic and political spheres,” Minasyan said at a December 4, 2020 press conference.

Minasyan is also charged with illegal arms procurement.