As expected, the government has extended Samvel Karapetyan’s detention for another two months.I don’t say “the court,” because in Armenia there is only the executive branch of government. The judicial and legislative branches do not exist as independent powers—they are merely derivatives or appendages of Pashinyan’s authority. Of course, this would no doubt come as a revelation to Trump, Macron, or, say, Ursula von der Leyen, whose “highly credible” sources feed them fairy tales about Armenia’s “democracy.”
In such circumstances, raising any logical question is, naturally, pointless. But if we pretend, for a moment, that the government’s actions are guided by some rational investigative process, then we might ask: what exactly have they been investigating for two months that now requires an additional two months?
From what can be gathered from open sources, the “case” boils down to this: proving that the phrase “we will participate in the defense of the church in our own way” constitutes “a call to seize power and overthrow the constitutional order.”
Apparently, two months were not enough to substantiate that absurd claim, and now they need some “new evidence” to somehow connect the phrase to the accusation. Perhaps in the next two months, an Armenian “Professor Higgins” will be unearthed—(for Nikol’s fans, let me clarify: he’s a character from a Bernard Shaw play)—tasked with proving this imaginary link. But no matter how skilled the linguist, he won’t be able to do it. Unless, of course, he’s a proud graduate of the Education is Fashionable program.
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In reality, the situation for Pashinyan’s subordinates—the NSS, investigators, and judges—is grim. Their boss writes something, and they are then forced to turn those fantasies and emotional outbursts into a “criminal case.” One can only hope that, deep down, some of them still feel at least a flicker of shame.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
