Champions Are a Target of Political Repression
One of the most discussed topics of the last two days in the context of the situation around the name of Prosperous Armenia party leader Gagik Tsarukyan is the disproportionate police force used against wrestling champion of Europe Roman Amoyan, who was laid down on the ground by 13 policemen when protesting against the arrest of Gagik Tsarukyan.
The incident was followed by annoucnements of sports champions and athletes to express solidarity and support for the champion against the police clampdown. Such comment was also made by Vahram Hakobyan, Armenia’s bodybuilding champion, winner of international reputable competitions, and one of the ten best bodybuilding athletes in the world, who wrote the following on his “facebook” wall:
“Shame on you… We are representing a nation in all corners of the world, and we have always been standing on high places. Never, nowhere in the world anyone brought us down to the ground… except for in our own country, where thousands of “policemen” did it. I am calling on all sportsmen in Armenia and diaspora to react and not to stay silent.”
In past publications we have covered a criminal case that is directly connected with Vahram Hakobyan. In this criminal case the investigation department often mentions in documents that Vahram Hakobyan has worked with Gagik Tsarukyan, as a result of which, according to him, the investigation department showed a very biased approach to him, and the entire case was fabricated. This biased approach continues to this day. In particular, the athlete’s lawyer has submitted a letter to the court asking for an explanation of the court’s decision to continuously postpone court sessions that would discuss the appeal against the decision of Vahram’s search warrant, but to this date he has not received any answer to his question why these court sessions continue to be postponed. The lawyer has also claimed from the court hard copies of minutes of a court session that authorized operative investigation actions against Vahram Hakobyan, however, even though the time established by law to answer to such request has passed and the court had to answer, this letter and lawyer’s requests have been left unanswered and ignored too.
There is an opinion that, it is not excluded, that this process was launched more than a year ago, and it was aimed to target the people in the surrounding of Gagik Tsarukyan, which means that this biased approach of the investigation department to the case of Vahram Hakobyan could be a part of this political pressure plan. If that is the case, and also taking into consideration the fact that Gagik Tsarukyan has supported many outstanding athletes and sportsmen during the past years, then it is not excluded that other famous athletes may be targeted too by this political pressure plan.
By Meri Hakobyan
