11:26, 6 January 2020

Resident of Armenia detained after posting fake news about Pashinyan

An alleged author of a false post about Pashinyan. Screenshot of the video by the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia https://youtu.be/yFORlxgfDNM

Employees of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia have detained the author of a false post stating that the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, had congratulated the US president on a successful operation in Iran.

On January 3, the United States conducted an operation against General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the elite unit of the Iranian Army, "Al-Quds" Special Forces, and Abu Makhdi al-Mukhandis, the deputy of the head of the Iraqi Shiite militia, who were regarded involved in the attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31.

The detainee had spread the fake news that Pashinyan "congratulated the US president on the successful actions against a senior Iranian military official" from the Facebook page registered in the name of "Diana Arutyunyan". The false information was spread in the Azerbaijani and Iranian media; and the Armenian special services regarded it as a threat to the state, the NSS of Armenia has reported.

The detained man has explained that he is in opposition to the Armenian authorities, as he treats the persecution of the second president of the country Robert Kocharyan as unfair.

Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Premier, wrote on the Facebook that the fake post "became a source of inspiration for the anti-Armenian forces" and created a threat to national security.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 6, 2020 at 00:35 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.