John Heffern, the US Ambassador to Armenia, has spread a video regarding the charges brought against Vartan Oskanian, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), by the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, in which he said, “This development, in my view, is very bad for justice and democracy in Armenia. As I have said previously, the case appears to represent the selective application of Armenian law. Moreover, the timing of these events in relation to the election schedule is troubling.”
Axel Fischer, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur for the monitoring of Armenia, also stated, “This is especially worrying in the light of persistent allegations that political motives have played a role in the charges that are levied against him.”
The foreign officials express their concerns only about Vartan Oskanian not talking about the four Armenian National Congress (ANC) activists who have recently been imprisoned and the Armenian opposition claims that they are persecuted for political reasons. www.aravot.am asked Vladimir Karapetyan who is responsible for the Armenian National Congress external affairs whether the fact that foreign officials expressed concerns about Vartan Oskanian’s case and didn’t talk about the issue of the ANC activists was justified. Mr. Karapetyan replied, “I think that one shouldn’t separate these issues. If one talks about political persecutions, it would be better, if such an attitude was taken when we had hundreds of political prisoners, when the young activists of the ANC were persecuted.”
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In response to another question of ours whether Mr. Karapetyan had any explanation of why international officials were not concerned about the issue of the ANC activists and whether
one could pin hopes on the foreign response regarding that case, Mr. Karapetyan said that they had learned to rely on themselves.
Karine Achemyan, an RPA MP, said about the ambassador’s response to the Oskanian case, “I think that one should allow the law-enforcers in the country to do what they have to. I don’t think that the investigation will last long, so all of us will know the details soon. However, I see the mission of foreign diplomats differently, perhaps, they clarify their approaches. The personal communication with Oskanian also plays a role in their statements.”
In response to our question whether foreigners tried to make something clear when they stressed the fact that V. Oskanian’s case was taking place at the threshold of the presidential election in the Republic of Armenia while expressing their concerns about it, Ms. Achemyan said the following, “There certainly are messages in what they say, but let us, nonetheless, leave that work to law-enforcers. I don’t share the opinion that there is a political persecution of Oskanian. There are pending charges against different officials, but not all of them are from the PAP. Therefore, I think that they try to find ways of justifying Oskanian by that. All that is caused by the fact that there is a lack of clarity on the political, which will be clarified, once political forces clarify their strategies.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
