The relationship between Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and business tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan has moved beyond ordinary political debate into a struggle for personal and political survival.

On July 6, 2026, businessman and chairman of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), Gagik Tsarukyan, was arrested. The arrest was preceded by hours-long searches of Tsarukyan’s private residence and more than seventy addresses associated with him.

On July 7, the Yerevan Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction ruled to detain Tsarukyan for two months. He is accused of largescale fraud and money laundering.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee (IC) claims that Tsarukyan and several Iranian businessmen jointly established companies and legal entities. They then imported fifty-two vehicles, equipment, fuel, and various other items goods from Iran to Armenia.

“By disguising the imports with the formal manifestations of conducting economic activities, they falsified import customs declarations and other official documents, and with premeditated intent, they embezzled property worth a total of  US$ 21.73, equivalent to some AMD 8.127 billion,” the IC said in a statement.

Armenia’s  Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) considers the legality of the acquisition of several properties belonging to Gagik Tsarukyan to be questionable. Since 2023, the property of Tsarukyan and his family members: his wife, parents, sons, and daughter-in-law, has been under investigation by PGO’s Department for the Confiscation of Property of Illegal Origin.

Christ’s New Tribulation

In parallel, the fate of Gagik Tsarukyan’s most ambitious project—the construction of a statue of Jesus Christ atop Mount Hatis—also remains uncertain. The monument, planned to stand 33 meters tall and about 77 meters with its pedestal, has drawn attention from major international media. Articles have highlighted the Armenian businessman’s ambition to build the world’s tallest statue of Christ. Many believe it could attract tourists to Armenia from around the world.

This project caused conflict from the very beginning. The Armenian Apostolic Church was categorically against it, saying that the installation of the statue does not correspond to the centuries-old traditions of the church. Environmentalists and archaeologists also sounded the alarm about the destruction of the historical and cultural landscape of Hatis and the Bronze Age fortress. Despite the resistance of the church and the public, Nikol Pashinyan’s government gave the green light to the project, declaring that it would contribute to the development of tourism.

Now that Tsarukyan is under arrest again and his enterprises have been suspended, the unfinished construction on Mount Hatis has taken on a new significance. What began as a state-backed religious landmark has become another front in the Pashinyan-Tsarukyan conflict, leaving the statue of Christ’s future as uncertain as that of the PAP leader.

Prosperous Armenia Party

Tsarukyan founded the Prosperous Armenia Party in 2004, during the administration of President Robert Kocharyan. Since its establishment, the party has participated in all parliamentary elections. In the 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2018 National Assembly elections, the PAP emerged as the second-largest party.

In 2007-2012, the PAP closely cooperated with then President Serzh Sargsyan and the ruling Republican Party. However, in 2012, the PAP announced that it would not join the ruling coalition.

During this period, the PAP began cooperating with the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the ARF, and the Heritage Party. The “non-government quartet” was formed, which later, after the ARF withdrew, turned into a “troika.” These forces organized rallies against Serzh Sargsyan’s government to conduct a bourgeois-democratic revolution. However, these attempts failed.

Relations with the authorities became especially tense in 2015. At a session of the Republican Party Council, Serzh Sargsyan and key figures of the party severely criticized Tsarukyan. Searches of businesses owned by Tsarukyan soon followed.

Tsarukyan and his supporters staged protests for several days, but soon afterward he announced his withdrawal from politics.

Tsarukyan reentered politics in 2017, ahead of the parliamentary election. As a result of those elections, the Prosperous Armenia Party appeared in the National Assembly, becoming the largest opposition faction.

In April 2018, Tsarukyan expressed his support for Pashinyan, who was conducting actions of civil disobedience. After Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation, the PAP supported Pashinyan in the parliament in his bid to become prime minister.

In the first government headed by Nikol Pashinyan, the PAP also received ministerial and regional governor portfolios. However, this cooperation did not last long. In October of the same year, the PAP ministers and regional governors were dismissed from their positions.

In the 2021 snap parliamentary election, the PAP garnered 3.9% of the vote and failed to overcome the passing threshold for the first time in its history.

Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia Party also participated in this year’s parliamentary election. The party garnered 3.996% of the tally, or 58,378 votes as per the preliminary count. The PAP was several dozen votes short of overcoming the passing threshold of 4%. Recounts at several polling stations showed that some results had been entered into the system incorrectly.

When it seemed that after the recount, the PAP would enter the National Assembly, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) decided to invalidate the results of three polling stations. The commission did not schedule a rerun in those polling stations. Thus, according to the final CEC tally, the PAP received 58,287 votes or 3.9893%.

Tsarukyan-Pashinyan On-Line Debate

The initiation of criminal proceedings against the PAP leader and his detention are considered by his teammates and several opposition forces as political persecution and another attempt to suppress opponents of the government.

Relations between Nikol Pashinyan and Gagik Tsarukyan grew strained again during the recent election campaign. On May 20, while campaigning in Lori Province, Pashinyan announced that “Tsarukyan’s business backbone, the Ararat Cement Plant, would be taken over by the state and belong to the Republic of Armenia.” Tsarukyan replied that he would not be intimidated and would not trade his property for the homeland.

Tensions escalated further in the following days of the campaign. Andranik Tevanyan, chair of the Mother Armenia party and second on Tsarukyan’s electoral list, was arrested on treason charges. Pashinyan later claimed Tsarukyan had added Tevanyan to the list at the request of foreign forces and called Tsarukyan a foreign agent.

In response to this statement, Tsarukyan said:

“If they say that Tsarukyan is a spy, let them shoot me, I will draft the document at my own request. If not, the one who says so should come and enter my lion’s den at his own request. Otherwise, they are not talking nonsense, throwing mud at people. Dear people, they have done nothing, they have nothing to say. The people’s patience has run out, today we need a change, people.”

(Ed. Tsarukyan kept lions and other animals as pets at his sprawling hilltop mansion located in the village of Arinj, just north of Yerevan. During the searches, authorities confiscated 190 taxidermy animals and sedated three lions and one tiger, which were transferred to the Yerevan Zoo.)

The animals were regarded as physical evidence in another criminal case. One of the lions died. Zoo employees attributed the animal’s death to old age.

During a briefing following the May 28 government cabinet session, Pashinyan declared that Tsarukyan “would live in a cage for decades to come.” Pashinyan called Tsarukyan a criminal, a foreign agent, and urged him to come to his senses and account for what he had said.

“Come to your senses and understand who you are and whom you are addressing. Criminal, we will deal with you as well, Gagik Tsarukyan. Get ready, the Ararat Cement Plant will be nationalized, and you and your in-laws will answer for that criminal transaction. Your palace will also be turned into a care center for the elderly by 2031. I promise this to Armenia’s voters,” Pashinyan said.

Tsarukyan then filed a defamation suit against Pashinyan, demanding that he refute these statements and pay nine million drams in compensation.

Authorities closed the doors all of Tsarukyan’s businesses after his arrest. The Paravon restaurant, the Ararat Brandy, Wine, and Vodka Factory, the Olimpavan (Olympic Village), the Shangri La  casino, the Multi Wellness sports complex, and other enterprises are still closed. Only the Ararat Cement Plant has resumed operations after the workers’ protest.

During the election campaign, Pashinyan called Tsarukyan, Samvel Karapetyan, and Robert Kocharyan “three-headed monsters of war” and accused them of serving the interests of foreign powers. Pashinyan and his teammates also called Tsarukyan a pro-Belarusian oligarch, referring to his ties with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. It is known that Tsarukyan and Lukashenko are close, and Tsarukyan also conducts business in Belarus. His son, Nver Tsarukyan, who is accused of hooliganism, has been in Belarus for two years. He is on a wanted list.

This is not the first Pashinyan-Tsarukyan conflict. In 2020, when Tsarukyan headed the largest opposition faction in the 7th convocation of the National Assembly, criminal proceedings were initiated against him on charges of distributing electoral bribes. On June 16, 2020, the National Assembly decided by closed secret vote to deprive Tsarukyan of immunity and agreed to detain him, at the request of the prosecutor general. The final court verdict in this criminal case was published in 2026. Tsarukyan was acquitted.

The political future of the PAP and its leader remains uncertain. For years, Gagik Tsarukyan has navigated political crises and returned to active politics, but the situation is now different: his conflict with Pashinyan appears to have reached a peak.

Top photo: screenshot, 02.05.2018.

Photo of Christ statue: Susanna Harutyunyan, Hetq Media Factory