Arsen Ghaitmazyan, the head of Dilijan’s criminal department, who beat a minor in the “Haghartsin” hotel, regretted his action in a conversation with “Aravot” and excused himself like this: “Well, I’m human, my nerves couldn’t stand it.”
In the same way, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan justified NA Speaker Alen Simonyan, who spat on a person on the street, who, unlike the policeman, does not think that he was embarrassed.
Honestly, these explanations do not satisfy me, because in both cases, the behavior of those who are acquitted is due to their being state officials, not just human beings. In other words, if the head of the criminal department were not sure that his restraining order would be changed (they didn’t want to detain him), if he were not sure that the investigative body and then the court would treat him as his own, he would not beat the child. If bodyguards did not surround the Speaker of the National Assembly, if he was not sure that his own people would justify his actions (“since the other party is from Dashnaktsutyun, you can spit on him”), and, finally, if he did not know 100% that such behavior would not have any consequences for his position he would have restrained himself. If the prime minister’s bodyguard was not convinced that he would be forgiven after causing a fatal accident to a pregnant woman, he would not have driven so wildly.
From this, I must again conclude that the problem is not personal. Because during all governments, regardless of their names, the policeman behaves as a “ment- cop,” the deputy as “Tokhmakhi Mher,” and the bodyguard as “Kuku.” People stop being just people and become a function. The so-called Zimbardo experiment is well-known in psychology. The students were divided into two groups and sent to the university’s basement, where half had to play “prison- guard” and the other half “prisoner.” Very quickly, the university’s basement became a veritable concentration camp.
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I can give another example of “official” but not human behavior. In this dire state of Artsakh, the officials there call the Armenian officials, but the latter does not answer the calls. They probably have nothing to say, but here is where one should show human nature. The seat of power is here today; tomorrow, it is gone. But when all this, God willing, ends, they will say about one that he showed human qualities and about the other that he was insensitive to the pain of his compatriots.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
