YEREVAN — Armenia has placed a major industrial asset under state control after its owner, opposition leader Gagik Tsarukyan, was arrested on charges of financing mass public disorder, in the sharpest escalation yet of a government crackdown on the country’s largest opposition party.
The AraratCement plant, one of Armenia’s primary cement producers, was transferred to state management following an order from the Prosecutor General’s Office. Authorities said the seizure was a precautionary measure tied to the criminal proceedings against Tsarukyan, whose assets are now subject to restrictions pending the outcome of the case.
Tsarukyan, the founder and longtime chairman of the Prosperous Armenia Party, was detained last week as part of a wave of arrests that swept through the party’s senior leadership. Prosecutors allege that he and other party figures financed and organised the street protests that gripped Yerevan in June, when demonstrators demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government.
The Prosperous Armenia Party has rejected all charges, calling them politically motivated. The party said the arrests were designed to destroy the main parliamentary opposition ahead of elections due later this year, and that the property seizure was an attempt to strip it of its financial base.
Tsarukyan built his fortune in construction and industry during the post-Soviet period and has been a dominant figure in Armenian politics for more than two decades. His party, which holds seats in the National Assembly, has been the principal organised opponent of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party since the prime minister came to power following the 2018 Velvet Revolution.
The timing of the arrests and the factory seizure has drawn attention from Armenian legal scholars and civil society organisations, several of whom have questioned whether the criminal charges are proportionate to the alleged conduct. No verdict has been reached in the case, and Tsarukyan remains in pretrial detention.
Pashinyan’s government has said the rule of law applies equally to all citizens, including those with political standing, and that the investigation is proceeding through normal legal channels. Officials have pointed to what they describe as evidence of coordinated financing behind the June protests, though that evidence has not been made public.
The case is unfolding against a backdrop of broader political tension in Armenia. Pashinyan has navigated a dramatic reorientation of Armenian foreign policy away from Russia and toward the European Union since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and the 2023 fall of the Karabakh enclave. Critics within Armenia, including Tsarukyan’s party, have at various points questioned the pace and direction of that shift.
Whether the crackdown on Prosperous Armenia will affect the opposition’s ability to compete in the upcoming parliamentary elections remains an open question. The party has not announced a replacement leadership structure, and it is unclear who will speak for the organisation while Tsarukyan and other senior figures are held.
The AraratCement plant will be managed by a state-appointed administrator for the duration of the legal proceedings, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office. No timeline has been given for when the case is expected to go to trial.
