National Assembly Member Tigran Abrahamyan wrote:
“The authorities’ tactics, choosing house arrest as a preventative measure, pursue a simple goal: to escape the noise and headaches and deprive a person of the opportunity to communicate as much as possible.
While the opposition and active initiatives have a traditional toolbox of imprisonment for political cases, which works well or poorly, the situation with house arrest does not inspire optimism.
Archbishops Michael and Mkrtich, David Hambardzumyan, Samvel Karapetyan, Artur Sargsyan, and a long list of active figures and clergy are currently not in prison but under house arrest with significant restrictions.
The authorities are maneuvering to avoid both internal and external noise, which requires a response appropriate to the situation.”