None of the dissenters in Armenia accepts that he is a dissenter; he argues that only he and his team have found the only true path to God. No corrupt officer or MP say that he steals, for the best case he will accept that his mother-in-law’s uncle’s son ‘has businesses’. One of them was found more original, saying that he accumulated his wealth at a time when he was a professional athlete; maybe he was Mike Tyson or Maria Sharapova that we would not have noticed. No party preacher would confess that he is busy with campaigning, he naturally considers himself a fighter for justice. Exactly the same way not only in Armenia, but also in any other country the authority does not accept that there is a political prisoner in his country. Moreover, today, there are communist veterans, who are sure that millions of people were executed during Stalin and driven to the “Gulag” for the reason that they were engaged in anti-state activities and spying. The authorities of all countries have a standard definition in this case: this is a purely legal issue, a criminal case was filed, the court is independent in our country (so the authorities usually joke), its decision should be respected. Well, in the case, the decisions of the same ‘group of three’ of Stalin should be respected, too. And after that, the decisions of the Soviet courts that were condemning to imprisonment, for example, the fighters for the independence of Armenia (which, by the way, was not contrary to the Soviet Constitution), these decisions should be accepted with holiness.
Those times, fortunately, have passed. I hope that what happened in 2008 and since then also will not happen again. But, the ‘recidivism’ is continued, and the cases of Tigran Arakelyan and his friends are just such a ‘recidivism’. The guys ‘cocked’ in contacts with the police. In other cases they would be taken to to the City Police station, and would be set free after paying 50,000 drams penalty. But a criminal case was filed, and the “independent” court appointed terrible punishment. The reason is that these guys are the opposition party activists. The point, therefore, is a political act, in other words, the authorities, pursuing those guys disproportionally, want to make something clear to the party, and the opposition in general, and why not, to all citizens. Clashes between protesting citizens and police are inevitable, and, unfortunately, always will be. Just in civilized countries the police are acting professionally (in particular, in their turn, they do not ‘cock’ in communication with citizens), but most importantly, after the possible clash, the investigation authority, and then the court does not accept police testimony smoothly, and the other side does not ignore. So far, we are the witnesses of the opposite in Armenia.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
