A court of first instance, presided over by Judge Arman Hovhannisyan, has acquitted 72-year-old Albert Arstamyan, who had been accused of throwing an apple at Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“The presence of criminal elements under Article 297 (Hooliganism), Part 1, of the Criminal Code has not been proven in Albert Arstamyan’s actions,” the judge announced, according to Panorama.am .

The court thus issued an acquittal.

Albert Arstamyan was charged with hooliganism, with prosecutors claiming he displayed overt disrespect toward society and legal and moral norms, accompanied by verbal abuse and blatant disregard for public order, allegedly disturbing the peace.

The charges stemmed from an incident on August 23, 2024, when Arstamyan allegedly threw an apple at Pashinyan from the balcony of an apartment on the ninth floor of a building located at 2 Rubinyants Street, in the Kanaker-Zeytun district of Yerevan.