One of the slogans of the 2018 revolution was the creation of an independent judiciary. I honestly believed that the revolutionaries wanted to implement this one of the most significant reforms for our country. I believed until the prime minister, the head of the executive branch, ordered his supporters to blockade all the courts of Armenia (that is, the institutions of other branches of government) after one of the courts made a decision he didn’t like.
After that, the activity of the Supreme Judicial Council continues according to the same logic. According to the political order of the executive power, that “independent” body gets rid of all more or less independent judges, and either those judges who served the previous authorities with the same loyalty or the young people, whose fate entirely depends on that same authority, remain.
For decades, one of the main functions of the judiciary was to “punch” requests for detention as a preventive measure. Moreover, sometimes it is done for absurd reasons.
In this case, we are talking about conductor Sergey Smbatyan. It is not clear how he could obstruct the investigation. The only thing Sergey can do and should do is stand at the conductor’s panel in Armenia, Malta, and many other countries. He cannot hide in any forest: conducting (if anyone doesn’t know, let me tell you) is a public profession. Nor can there be any fear that Smbatyan will pressure the investigation with his musical performances.
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Therefore, there is no legal basis for detention. The only motivation is the same executive power’s desire to show that they are allegedly “fighting looters.” The challenge is to feed the unhealthy instincts of one’s electorate. If we had independent courts, they would put a “red light” on this populism of the executive and say: find other areas to carry out your propaganda.
And spreading our culture around the world is the most essential issue. Also, imagine politically.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
