Nikol should start from himself
Interview with Gagik Jhangiryan, ANC faction member
-Heritage party’s Zarouhi Postanjyan and ANC’s Nikol Pashinyan were not allowed to see prisoners at Nubarashen detention center. MPs have the right to see prisoners in detention centers. However, the justice minister says they do not have such right. As a lawyer, what do you think about this?
-Yes, I believe the request of those MPs was lawful. The law allows MPs visit not only prisoners, butt kitchens, medical centers in detention areas and other rooms. It is established under the 48th law on detention of people. There are six groups of people that can visit detention centers and see people there, and they do not have to ask for permission from investigators or detention center directors. MPs are among those people. Among the government officials there are people who believe the detention center chief did the right thing, others think he was wrong. It is good tat in the ruling coalition there are different opinions.
-Do you agree with the statement that the justice minister’s decision is arbitrary?
-Absolutely!
-How can the problem be solved if the justice minister keeps insisting on his point and does not allow MPs to visit the detention center?
-There are two solutions: either the law has to b e amended in a manner not to allow any misinterpretation or Pashinyan has to apply to court.
-What do you think about the incident of November 5?
-It shows that issues have accumulated in the society that cannot be ignored. I am against the methods they used but it doesn’t mean that if I don’t like the method I don’t like the purpose they did it for. I think this is the main message that was sent to the authorities, and they have to consider it seriously.
-Mr. Jhangiryan, you know Shant Harutyunyan personally. Would you expect it from him? Was it really a revolution attempt?
-One cannot do revolution with 15 people. We should pay more attention to the root causes. The government should know that people are fed up. I know Shant Harutyunyan and do not want to comment on his personal characteristics.
-Media reports that police chief Vladimir Gasparyan has beaten him up. Do you believe it?
-There have been different publications, but I want to believe Shant Harutyunyan’s lawyer. If it really happened, the perpetrators of those violations must be punished. But now, as far as I know, his lawyer refutes that statement.
-Many people believe it is because of wounds of violence that the police do not let MPs visit Shant Harutyunyan.
-It is not excluded. It may be true, and even such decision may be made through consultation with the plenipotentiary director and investigator. Maybe there are other legal grounds that we don’t know as we are not familiar with the details of the case.
-Do you consider Shant Harutyunyan a political prisoner?
-Shant has been a political prisoner of the 7th case and he was accused at that time. Shant’s part of the case was closed due to certain reasons that I don’t want to discuss now. I think it is early, and we should say such thing after the expertise is finished.
-Many ANC activists have been charged under this law. Recently released Tigran Arakelyan is one of them. Taking these examples into consideration, you should be one of the first people to claim that Shant is a political prisoner. Why aren’t you doing that?
-Even though the article they are charged under is the same, I don’t think that the actions of Tigran and Shant were the same though. I would not compare those. We have held demonstrations for thousand times but have never taken up sticks and threatened like Shant did.
-People say that it is the opposition that was weak, and if the opposition was strong, Shant would not do that.
-It has nothing to do with opposition’s weakness.
-Your party colleague Nikol Pashinyan said in the parliament concerning Shant’s actions that it was due to the opposition’s inactivity that people do such things, and he called on opposition powers to lead the society through planned steps in order not to let anyone commit such things. Do you share that opinion?
-They should call on themselves to activate. I am active. I closed my office during my lunch time in 2008 to go and stand by them, and till now I am here with them. I agree, and Nikol should start it from himself.
-NA deputy speaker called the opposition “nervous” and said that non-governmental powers had fallen in between political and civic activities. Do you agree with this?
-I do not share that opinion. Why is the opposition nervous? How do they see that? During the budget draft discussion the opposition developed very critical and constructive comments. I wouldn’t say the pro-government parliamentarians’ comments were better than ours. It is impossible to refute what he said because it clearly shows that our living condition is worse now. I do not want even to say whether we are out of the political game or no because there is irony in this question.
By Tigranouhi Martirosyan
