I have no desire to comment on the silence of various international bodies regarding the shameful processes in Armenia, including human rights violations, but regardless of the agenda of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, this did not prevent opposition representatives from raising all issues in Armenia, including human rights, the campaign against the Church, and political prisoners. Hayk Mamijanyan, head of the “I Have the Honor” faction, mentioned this in a conversation with journalists in the National Assembly today, February 5.
“Simply put, I don’t care what agenda he brought with him; his mandate includes the protection of human rights, and we at least raised the issue of shameful human rights violations in Armenia. Unfortunately, I cannot answer his questions, which we find difficult to find satisfactory, given the format.” “I would only like to note that the opposition representatives requested a separate meeting with the Commissioner, because a short meeting with the entire delegation would be impossible to convey all the shameful processes taking place in our country,” he said.
Mamidzhanyan expressed surprise that such a high-ranking official dealing with human rights issues had come and stated that he was currently interested in studying human rights violations in this and other areas. “This did not prevent us from presenting the reality. At this and all previous meetings, very clear statements were made about the unacceptability of statements coming from European structures.
I cannot help but mention the recently published report, to which the Commissioner has no direct connection. Nevertheless, for example, during a meeting with the co-rapporteurs, I explicitly stated that the publication of this report was an attempt to directly influence Armenia’s domestic political life. According to Council of Europe regulations, a monitoring visit cannot be carried out in a pre-election year, as it could be perceived as influencing domestic political issues,” the opposition MP stated.
Speaking about the possible outcomes of the Council of Europe Commissioner’s visit, Mamijanyan said: “The results of this meeting could be very different. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has an annual report; this is one of its tools; it has a statement format.”