Commission on politically motivated persecution formed

PanARMENIAN.Net - A new commission has been established in Armenia to address issues related to protecting the rights of individuals facing politically motivated persecution. The commission has brought together political analysts, human rights advocates, diplomats and various public figures who have expressed concern over the situation in the country.

“Any dissenter in Armenia is viewed by these authorities as an enemy rather than as opposition. We are now obliged to unite in some way and put an end to this situation,” commission member and Armenia’s first Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan said in her opening remarks, Sputnik Armenia reports.

Political analyst Stepan Danielyan said that, in his assessment, the country is currently in a situation where the Constitution and constitutional rights no longer function. According to him, it is now the country’s prime minister who decides who should be Catholicos, who should have a seat in parliament, who should have the right to vote and other matters.

“The prime minister declares that various people should be stripped of their property and considers their assets illegal. In other words, the right to the inviolability of property does not function in Armenia. The incumbent prime minister publicly declares that one person or another is a traitor. Let us set aside the fact that even the criminal case contains no article on treason, but nevertheless, the law enforcement system goes after that person,” the political analyst said.

He stressed that, in his view, all this means the constitutional order no longer functions in Armenia.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Dzunik Aghajanyan also addressed civil society organizations in her remarks, saying that, in her observation, most of them are currently inactive. According to her, this allows the authorities to continue a policy of repression and persecution and to pursue it in harsher and more unlawful ways.

“As for the silence of international organizations, although international law appears to be in a coma, the Republic of Armenia, as a state, has undertaken a number of commitments, and the proper use of international institutions will help not only curb these authorities’ appetite to turn this society into a submissive, amorphous mass with a slave mentality, but will also help play a preventive role to some extent both inside the country and in neighboring Azerbaijan, where Armenian captives continue to be held to this day,” Aghajanyan said.