Nikol Pashinyan

Nikol Pashinyan is a former Armenian journalist and editor who led a successful political movement against the Serzh Sargsyan government and became the 20th Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on May 8, 2018. He had previously founded the Armenian-language political daily newspaper, 'Haykakan Zhamanak'. It was the spiritual successor of 'Blog' daily, which he previously worked for, but was shut down by the authorities. He served as the chief editor of his daily for a longtime, and later gave up the post after being elected an MP. The independent newspaper, which boasts of providing free, objective and timely information on the events in Armenia's social and political life, became known as the country's most fearless news outlet, gaining immense public support. Through the newspaper, he regularly expressed his highly critical views of the governments of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan. He was one of the leading figures during the March 1, 2008 protests, following which he had to stay underground for 16 months before surrendering and being jailed for almost two years. According to his former classmates, Pashinyan had been energetic and righteous since his student years, and had an appreciation for troublemaking.