HENDERSON, NV — U.S. immigration authorities appear to have detained a notorious Armenian blogger with political ambitions who is wanted in Armenia for alleged fraud, extortion and calls for violence.
The 47-year-old man, Vartan Ghukasyan, is a former police officer who emigrated to the United States about a decade ago. He has since attracted large audiences on YouTube with his hard-hitting and opinionated comments on political developments in Armenia. He has commonly used extreme profanities to attack both Armenia’s current rulers and their mainstream political opponents in his videos.
In early 2023, Armenian law-enforcement authorities issued an international arrest warrant for Ghukasyan and arrested his associates in Armenia on charges of blackmail, extortion and fraud denied by them.
The official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reveals that an Armenian man with the same name and of the same age is currently held at the Henderson Detention Center in the U.S. state of Nevada. It does not specify what he is accused or suspected of. Illegal immigrants are understood to be among the facility’s 500 or so inmates.
Levon Baghdasaryan, a lawyer representing Ghukasyan in Armenia, shed little light on his client’s current status and whereabouts when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Friday. Baghdasaryan said that Ghukasyan has not been formally placed under arrest and may have only had his freedom “partially restricted.” Ghukasyan is being investigated over a “migration issue,” the lawyer said vaguely.
