“The issue of combating torture has a separate note in the program of the RA government. This is just a mockery of tortured citizens,” Nina Karapetyants, President of the Helsinki Association, a human rights NGO, told Aravot Daily. She said that over the last three years after the revolution, she talked to the current government and some deputies, including the re-elected ones, and presented facts about torture cases and evidence that torture cases were covered up both before and after the revolution, and the current government did not respond.
Nina Karapetyants assured that she tried to explain what problems the system has and how to implement reforms, but her voice remained unheard. Looking at the issue from this point of view, she said, “Consequently, adding that point again is just a joke, because if you had a long time and a revolutionary toolkit to solve those issues and you did nothing, now including that point is just a way to formally show someone- international structures- that you are so great that such issues are in your government’s program. This is just a mockery of the citizens of Armenia.”
We spoke about how in addition to this, we see that the Azeris have closed the Goris-Kapan interstate road. Aravot Daily asked about Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s explanations for this issue, whether, for example, there is an alternative road, and if the state satisfied its responsibilities in ensuring the security of Armenian citizens. Nina Karapetyants answered, “I gathered strength and listened to Nikol Pashinyan’s explanation. He quoted some excerpts from his speeches in December where he allegedly said that those routes should be surrendered one way or another. I think the actions of the incumbent Prime Minister are the same as those of the previous ones, except for Levon Ter-Petrossian, who said in a direct and open manner what awaits us. Nikol Pashinyan made manipulative statements to insure himself, and he did not inform the people of Armenia, the citizens, whose rights and freedoms he is the official guarantor of. People are simply facing reality.
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Naturally, I am not at all satisfied with such an approach, as this is the approach adopted by Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, and then Nikol Pashinyan. It cannot be found out in one day that there are agreements, and they are the staged entry of Azerbaijani troops, the Russian troops’ rescue, and the people left in the blockade. It was the most unacceptable form of communication between the government and the people, which was also adopted by Nikol Pashinyan. I’m sorry, but they did not find the strength to speak directly to the people, including this government.”
Upon our clarification of if she understood from Nikol Pashinyan’s explanation that there were hints about agreements on the Goris-Kapan road specifically, Nina Karapetyants answered, “I understand that such an agreement was reached, and Nikol Pashinyan informed the citizens of Armenia back in December and he quoted his speeches. As far as I understand, the hint was that he spoke about this in December. But this can not be an excuse. If he had made such an agreement, he should have informed us about it in a normal, humane text, as he is accustomed to regularly going live, giving speeches in live text. He could have tried to directly explain what the problem was because, of course, we would not have understood since he got acquainted with the documents, but we did not. We could not understand his hints.” Nina Karapetyants said that local NGOs in Syunik have serious concerns about the blockade of roads by Azeris. In her opinion, the deterioration of the situation is not over yet.
At the end of the conversation, she said, “I said this a few months ago when they began adopting laws that affect citizens’ behavior. I said, ‘We have unpleasant surprises ahead of us, so they have started to take various actions to insure themselves, including criminalizing certain things and restricting free speech.’”
Tatev Harutyunyan
