The government often makes an appeal on this or that occasion, “Do not politicize!” If we disregard the peculiarities of our reality, that appeal, as such, is right. For example, when the neighborhood bully breaks into the electoral district and stuffs the ballot box, it should be resisted by the police, then the prosecutor’s office, in the end, the court. If these three state bodies act like that, there will be no need for politicizing the issue of electoral fraud. So if the police, the prosecutor’s office, and the court perform their duties, it will become an ordinary legal procedure, which will not attract the attention of either society or political forces, and the crimes that are regularly punished tend to decrease. However, since those crimes have been used for political purposes over the past 18 years, and that is the very reason why they remain unpunished, we are compelled to politicize them; it is just logical to do so.
The basic condition for not politicizing any issue is independent court. At the time when one of the famous politicians was prosecuted, the judge publicly and honestly admitted: “Do you think I make judgments by myself? I go to the Presidential Palace and have my decisions approved there.” That is the very problem; people must be able to file every complaint, including those regarding elections, being sure that the court will act “by itself” without approval from the Presidential Palace. However, since we are sure that, for example, condemning Tigran Arakelyan to 6 years in prison was also “approved,” we cannot help but “politicize the issue.”
The same thing applies to the slaughter of March 1. How one can avoid politicizing it! If, say, in the summer of 2008, those who had committed those murders and those who had arranged them had stood trial, it would have been possible to assert that the law enforcers had illegally used firearms during the peaceful opposition rally, for which they were punished. However, since no one has been punished in the past 5 years; on the contrary, a few dozen opposition leaders and activists have stood trial, one can draw a conclusion from it that our very law enforcement system is guided by political motives. Therefore, dear law enforcers, do not politicize the March 1 case and solve it!
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
