YEREVAN. – Armenian police clarified on Tuesday an incident involving Nikol Pashinyan, head of opposition Yelq faction in the Armenian parliament.

Earlier Armenian MP Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Facebook that the Italian police besieged his hotel room in Rome to arrest him.

In a statement published later on Tuesday, Armenia police said their Italian colleagues were guided by an Interpol application dating back to 2008.

“On July 1, 2009, after Nikol Pashinyan's visit to the law enforcement bodies of the Republic of Armenia, the Interpol office in the Republic of Armenia has informed the Interpol General Secretariat about the suspension of international search for him, and then all Member States have been informed by the General Secretariat.”

In July 2009 Nikol Pashinyan handed himself in to law enforcement agencies and was later sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released by an amnesty in 2011.