Yesterday a woman whose son had died in Karabakh approached me. As always, the official version was suicide and as always, the mother was convinced that he had been killed. My “guilt,” in particular, was that I talk about residents of Karabakh with warmth. The woman expressed her opinion on the residents of that territory, which I will not repeat here and with which I don’t agree. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell my interlocutor that murder is never concealed in our army and is never presented as suicide or that the court examining the case will be impartial and will punish the guilty. I couldn’t say that, because I am not used to saying things, which I don’t believe at all.
I cannot say the same thing to the parents of Tigran Arakelyan and three other convicted guys either, although the Armenian National Congress (ANC) activists are not “the apple of my eye,” to put it mildly. Only a man who has no shame at all and is absolutely cynical can claim that Tigran Arakelyan has made such a terrible assault on a police officer that he deserves six years in prison. This case first of all testifies to our police officers’ unprofessionalism, since they are not able to stop an argument between them and citizens with peaceful, but decisive actions. During a conflict, they try to protect their tough-guy reputation, forgetting that they are representatives of the state.
Secondly and most importantly, the issue here is that the most important obstacle in the way of democracy and rule of law is the dependent position of the legal system. By the way, this situation “is guaranteed” by the Constitution, since judges are appointed by the President of the Republic of Armenia.
What is it; they bring in a verdict based on the testimonies of police officers. The police officer is subordinate to his commander, is he not, and if the latter orders him to testify that Tigran Arakelyan landed on Swan Lake in a flying saucer, the police officer will give that testimony without blinking. In this regard, the given case is too vulnerable from the perspective of the international law – if it reaches the European Court, I suppose we, the tax-payers, will be compelled to pay for the mistakes of judges once again.
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I don’t care much about political rhetoric concerning the regime, gang rule and political persecutions. This is not the first, nor is it the last time the police cook a case against citizens. The court has also appeared as an adjunct of the police and prosecutor’s office for hundreds of times. The political beliefs of the young men aren’t decisive here. However, since the case has taken on political overtones this
way or another, it would be very desirable that representatives of not only the ANC, but also the other political forces made their assessments.
As for Karabakh and residents of Karabakh, I still claim that it is a wonderful country with mainly wonderful people, as the whole of Armenia is.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
