Armenia’s Court of Cassation today overturned a 2010 verdict that found Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan guilty of organizing mass riots in Yerevan following the 2008 presidential election.

The 2010 lower court verdict also found Pashinyan guilty of using violence against a government official. The court acquitted Pashinyan of the second charge but sentenced him to seven years on the first. He was later granted amnesty and the sentence was halved.

The Cassation Court took the action following a January 2022 ECHR ruling that Pashinyan's rights to freedom, personal immunity, as well as his right to peaceful assembly were violated. According to the ECHR, Pashinyan was persecuted for actively presenting his political position.

Pashinyan, in 2008, was a political activist allied with Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Petrosyan’s supporters and others rejected the 2008 presidential election results in favor of Serzh Sargsyan.

The Court of Cassation today also acquitted Armenian Ambassador to Sweden Alexander Arzumanyan of all March 2008 related charges.

Arzumanyan was found guilty in 2009 of organizing mass riots and sentenced to five years in prison. He was granted amnesty and later released.