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Ex-head of Armenian national security detained on suspicion of assassination plot

Armenian National Security Service detained Artur Vanetsyan on the suspicion of usurping power and preparing the assassination of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Vanetsyan's lawyer Lusine Sahakyan said

Artur Vanetsyan (left) EPA-EFE/HAYK BAGHDASARYAN/PHOTOLURE

Artur Vanetsyan (left)

© EPA-EFE/HAYK BAGHDASARYAN/PHOTOLURE

YEREVAN, November 14. / TASS /. Armenian National Security Service detained its former head, the leader of the Rodina party, Artur Vanetsyan on the suspicion of usurping power and preparing the assassination of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Vanetsyan's lawyer Lusine Sahakyan wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday.

"Today Artur Vanetsyan was invited to the Investigative Department of the National Security Service and detained. The authorities charged him based on false suspicions of usurping power and preparing the murder of Nikol Pashinyan," she wrote.

On November 12, the Special Investigation Service of Armenia decided to put ten opposition politicians under preliminary arrest, including Vanetsyan, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan and the representative of the Dashnaktsutyun party Ishkhan Saghatelyan on charges of organizing an illegal meeting. On November 13 they were all released from custody. Protests demanding Pashinyan's resignation have been held in Armenia since November 10.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting on November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.

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