Nikol Pashinyan
Nikol Pashinyan 
| |
|---|---|
| Birthplace | Ijevan |
| Birth date | 1 June 1975 |
| Lived in | Ijevan, Yerevan |
| Profession | Journalist, Politician |
| Languages | Armenian, Russian, English |
| Ethnicities | Armenian |
| Dialects | Eastern Armenian |
| Spouses | Anna Hakobyan |
Nikol Pashinyan (Armenian: Նիկոլ Փաշինյան) is Prime Minister of Armenia. He's a former journalist and editor.
He was the editor of Armenia's best-selling daily liberal newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak (The Armenian Times), which was highly critical of the governments of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan. As the head editor of the daily since 1999, Pashinyan has been an important contributor to the discourse of the various movements that have opposed the governments of former President Robert Kocharyan and former President, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, whose presidency Pashinyan and the opposition reject as illegitimate. In 2000, while he was the head editor of Haykakan Zhamanak he was convicted on charges of defamation and libel against different people.
Pashinyan supported Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the 2008 presidential elections, when he was described as Ter-Petrosyan's "customary crowd-warmer." He went into hiding shortly after the deadly unrest following the election; he was wanted by the Armenian police on allegations of murder and mass disorder. In June 2009, he came out of hiding and turned himself to the police. He was released after an amnesty was granted to many political prisoners in May 2011, nearly two years after he was jailed.
He was a leading member of the Armenian National Congress, an opposition movement led by former President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan. On May 6, 2012, he was elected to the National Assembly of Armenia.
He led the 2018 Armenian revolution which forced Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan to resign. Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister after massive protests he led which shut down Armenia.