Civilnet
By Alexander Pracht
Torgom Asatryan, an Armenian mixed martial arts fighter, was sentenced by a Yerevan court on Wednesday to five years and six months in prison over his role in the mob beating of Ararat Mirzoyan, who was parliamentary speaker at the time and now serves as Armenia’s foreign minister.
Asatryan pleaded not guilty in court.
According to the court ruling, Asatryan was among a group that attacked Mirzoyan during mass riots in central Yerevan in November 2020, a day after the end of the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The unrest erupted in protest against the Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement, which handed over several territories to Azerbaijan.
Protesters stormed government and parliament buildings, accusing the country’s leadership of capitulation. Mirzoyan was severely beaten by the crowd that day and hospitalized with serious injuries.
Earlier in May, another participant in the same attack, Ara Badoyan, received a three-and-a-half-year sentence. Both men were initially charged with attempted murder, but the charges were later reclassified as violence during mass riots.
Asatryan is a professional featherweight MMA fighter whose last recorded bout took place in September 2022 at the Georgian Fighting Championship (GFC).
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