Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke about the controversial, secretly recorded phone call that took place between NSS head Artur Vanetsyan and SIS head Sasun Khachatryan in a Facebook live stream.
“Of course, I know all of the details of this case. I know what took place at that time and before then, what happened after that in Armenia, and what is currently happening in Armenia. I am familiar with that context. But I perhaps will not speak about the details yet. I invited the head of the NSS, Artur Vanetsyan, to speak with me, and I ordered him to hold a press conference to answer reporters’ questions and give explanations. We will still speak about what the NSS leader and what the SIS leader said, what it mean, how to comment on it, and how everything seems,” said Pashinyan.
According to him, what happened was the following: a secret recording of the SIS head’s and the NSS head’s conversation. Who did it, what was their goal, did they have the legal right to secretly do that, when did that recording take place, and what was the political motivation behind all of this? “On August 17th, I said on Republic Square that I think everything about the March 1st case has been uncovered and every murderer has to answer in court.”
The prime minister does not know what that person wanted to secretly find out. There is nothing in any of those recordings that will suggest after an investigation that anyone crossed the lines of their responsibilities. “If we’re the ones who are giving instructions to the courts, then why didn’t we give any instructions to the investigational courts? How was Robert Kocharyan freed? If we were ones to start political persecutions, then how did the television channels and media outlets buy those reports? Do media outlets buy reports in countries where political persecution takes place? How?”
Nelly Babayan
