Frankly speaking, I do not like citations from one’s own self, but in this particular case I want to remind you what I have written on April 25 of the current year, when Nikol Pashinyan was not still elected as the PM, but it was evident he was going to. “If the people accused of armed occupation of police patrol regiment and other crimes, including murders, are regarded as political prisoners and released without investigation of the crimes of each of them, then it will create serious issues for any authority. It is dangerous to the state… if another group of citizens, striking against the vices, tries to solve the issue through “Kalashnikov” again, playing as political prisoners will become a precedent, which justifies the armed political fight. “Shant Harutyunyan and his friends’ case completely differs – the punishment, which they undergo, is not equal to the deed they have committed, about which I have written during Serzh Sargsyan’s term of office. Those boys truly, in my opinion, should be released”.
I thought this way on July 17, 2017, I was of the same opinion before the revolution and I am of the same opinion after the revolution.
Now, I am hopeful, no one can accuse me of flattering Serzh Sargsyan or wanting to eternalize his authority. Possibly enough, you will agree that Sargsyan’s, Pashinyan’s or the person of any other actor is less of importance than the state order and lawfulness.
They say, if the armed attack on the police patrol regiment was not in place, the former authorities would give Artsakh to Azerbaijan. That statement, according to me, does not have any substantiation. They also say that the armed attack was also an “insurrection against the totalitarianism”.
I do not agree again: there has never existed totalitarianism in Armenia, an authoritarian regime has been in place during Kocharyan’s term of office – a hard one, and a soft one in Sargsyan’s term of office. It is another question that the youth has rejected authoritarianism via this revolution and let us hope that we will build a fully democratic state. However, during the 27 years of Armenia’s independence, no totalitarianism or dictatorship has been in place and bringing the comparison with Nazi Germany made by my beloved Varujan Avetisyan is irrelevant, I believe.
All that does not mean, however, that the prisoners of this case should not be freed. The question is – how they should get it. Solutions, of course, are in place. I, personally, believe that the trial should end. Each of them should receive the punishment he deserves under law, after which they can submit a request for pardon and confess, that they were incorrect – it is possible to change power in Armenia without arms and violence.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
