The Public Moralist
Through the June 2026 parliamentary campaign and on election night, Alen Simonyan and his Civil Contract leadership insisted that the opposition's principal figures 'must sit' -- that Robert Kocharyan, Samvel Karapetyan and Gagik Tsarukyan belonged in prison. A man who sits in such confident judgment of others invites a look at his own record.
The Divorce
In July 2025, Simonyan divorced Mariam Margaryan, the mother of his three children, by mutual consent. He confirmed the divorce himself and asked the media not to touch 'the personal issue.' His former mother-in-law, Armine Ohanyan, is the director of the Hraparak daily.
The Model Twenty Years Younger
Within months, by the autumn of 2025, Armenian outlets were already identifying a new partner at the Speaker's side: Anelya Gubryan, a model and television actress born in 1999 -- roughly twenty years his junior. Their engagement was made public on 1 March 2026.
The ceremony was held at the Dvin Hotel's 'Hayrik' restaurant in Yerevan. When its cost drew public attention, Simonyan did something unusual: he went public with the receipt, stating that the dinner came to 325,840 drams, 'paid with my card, with my personal funds, as I always do.' A sitting Speaker chose to itemize a private engagement bill for the press.
Her Own Words
There is a particular irony in the record. In her own pre-fame interviews, preserved from Bravo.am, Gubryan had said there was 'no love at first sight' for her, that her 'first kiss was similar to [her] second,' and that one should 'be established and independent' before marrying. The relationship that followed moved on a markedly faster clock.
The Question the Timeline Raises
The compression of that timeline -- a divorce finalized in July, a new partner public by autumn, an engagement by the following spring -- has fueled open speculation in Armenia about whether the relationship predated the end of the marriage. We have not been able to confirm that it did, and Simonyan has asked that his private life be left alone.
We note the question because it is the one the public record itself raises, and because it is being asked about a man who insists, in public, on sitting in judgment of others. The standard he applies to his opponents is a standard the public is entitled to apply to him.
Sources: Report.az, 17 Jul 2025 (divorce confirmed) · Tert.am, 2 Mar 2026 (engagement, Dvin Hotel) · Oragir.news, 1 Mar 2026 (profile) · Bravo.am, 31 Jan 2020 (Gubryan interview, archived by OWL)