Armen Ashotyan, Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, touched upon the issue of political prisoners in Armenia and the developments around the peace treaty at a briefing with journalists from the courtyard.
According to him, there are more than 30 political prisoners in Armenia today, but the struggle for their release is not over.
“Perhaps the opposition is not fighting well enough or is not covering this struggle well enough, but the society is also passive. If at least 5% of the people who have a photo with His Holiness Bagrat or who have ever wanted to say hello to him had come to the courtroom, written a post on Facebook, taken part in a rally or picket, I am sure that His Holiness Bagrat and all the other unjustly convicted people would have been released very quickly. Under public pressure, Nikol Pashinyan would be forced to take this step, because the problems arising from this pressure are more important to him than the problem of keeping political prisoners,” he said.
Ashotyan also touched upon the ongoing discussions around the peace treaty and Aliyev’s statements, drawing a comparison between Ukraine and Armenia.
“A lot has been said about Aliyev, everyone contrasts Nikol’s and Aliyev’s words, and they are right. We all know what Azerbaijan really thinks, breathes, and exhales. But I want to give an example from another situation. Yesterday, I watched an interview with EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas on the BBC. What does this lady say? Ukraine should not cede territory for the sake of peace. Seriously? And in the case of Armenia, do you welcome the cession of territories? If cession is a good solution, go and do it in Ukraine. Why is it impossible to cede anything in the case of Ukraine, but vice versa in the case of Armenia?” he said.
According to him, the same Kallas considers the Ukrainian army to be the main guarantor of Ukraine’s security.
“Why don’t you talk about the Armenian army? We are told that you don’t need an army. From Nikol to his sponsors. But in the case of Ukraine, everyone says that the army is a guarantee of security. This is the cynicism they are selling. Nikol sells us this dirty product, but the buyer is us, the people. We must reject this false peace. This world is wormy, rotten, poisonous. There is no peace there, there is a long, gradual death of the state, the people and dignity,” he said.