Lusine Petrossian, the authorized representative of the Hello Yerevan coalition of parties in the Central Election Commission (CEC), has filed a petition in the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia, challenging decision no. 107-Ա of the CEC made on May 11. Referring to a set of articles of the Principles of Administration and Administrative Proceedings Act, which had outrageously been violated by the actions taken and no. 107-Ա made by the CEC, request is made of the court to find the above-mentioned decision void and compel the CEC to discuss the request made by the Hello Yerevan Coalition on May 10 to find the results of the Yerevan City Council election null. The opposition ANC, in its turn, sent a package of reports on crimes to the Special Investigative Service (SIS) on Monday, demanding to open cases, launch a preliminary investigation into the “crimes” in a set of polling places of Yerevan they had mentioned, find the perpetrators and hold them accountable. www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with attorneys how grounded the above-mentioned requests were, and, generally, what expectations there were from the examination of those cases. Attorney Karen Mezhlumyan replied: “If a crime has been committed and if those allegations are grounded, a case should be opened. If there is a report on a crime and evidence proving it must have happened, they should find out as a result of an investigation whether this incident took place, and who the masterminds were.” We inquired whether one could notice will on the part of the Armenian government and judicial system to carry out a fair examination of those cases. Mr. Mezhlumyan replied: “I am more inclined to think that there is no will. Otherwise, investigations would have been launched into the allegations made in press releases and publications of the mass media. If we look at it from the practical perspective, it is pointless; there are very poor prospects. On the other hand, considering political and legal aims, such requests are to be made, since this is another platform to show the violations that were committed once again.” Tigran Ter-Yesayan, the director of Forum, a human rights center, in his turn, said: “The process is important here, since the content is more or less clear to everyone. We want this state to mature and such petitions to be heard in accordance with the procedure. It seems to me that people send a message to the population most of the time, asking to vote for them and their teams, but they should take into account the fact that they will be reminded about their messages tomorrow, be it a presidential election, a National Assembly election, a city council election, or a village chief election. You cannot make a choice that they should go away. Making requests, for how many years the requests will remain unattended to, whether there will be an investigation, whether it will have an impact on the process or not; it is just mockery. Is this a kindergarten or a state? Suppose, the ANC and Hello Yerevan made requests. So what? A non-commissioned officer will be appointed chief of police, the chief of police will be appointed Minister of Economy, the Minister of Economy will be appointed chief inspector of the region.”
We inquired of Armen Khachatryan, the coordinator of the ANC center for legal assistance, what expectations they had from the SIS, given the fact that no investigation had been launched into a lot of publications about electoral fraud in the press. Mr. Khachatryan stated in response: “The expectation is that the perpetrators will be prosecuted and will be held accountable. The law doesn’t provide for any other expectations from the SIS. And if we hadn’t had expectations, we wouldn’t have made reports. That the SIS served the government is obvious, but, on the other hand, cases are pending; the preliminary investigation is in progress. After it is finished, it will be clear once again whether the SIS has served the government or if charges regarding obvious crimes are brought to court, it will be proof that the SIS has performed its duties.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
