Police in Armenia arrested seven people associated with a pro-Russian opposition party on suspicion of terrorism following a slew of raids on their homes on Thursday amid a wider government crackdown ahead of parliamentary elections.
Axar.az reports, citing Reuters, the people are affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), also known as Dashnaktsutyun, a group part of the pro-Russian parliamentary coalition headed by Robert Kocharyan, a former president of the South Caucasus country.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said police had arrested seven individuals and charged one of them with preparing a terrorist act. Reuters was not able to determine the identities of all seven of the people.
ARF said in a statement that raids were ongoing at several MPs’ homes as of early Thursday morning and that at least one politician and the son of another had been arrested.
Thursday’s arrests follow criminal indictments levied earlier this week against three politicians of the Armenia Alliance, the larger umbrella coalition of which the Armenian Revolutionary Federation is a part.
Opposition groups have decried the investigations as politically motivated.