Motives to neutralize Ashotyan: Pashinyan getting ready for another anti-Armenian act
Today, the RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan was taken to the Investigative Committee (IC) from his apartment. With what legal justification, within the framework of what case, it is not really important, because it is obvious that what is being done against Ashotyan definitely has political motives, for which the lawyers and investigators who serve Nikol Pashinyan can invent some “legal justifications”.
What is being done against Ashotyan personally, however, should be distanced from Ashotyan’s person, because Nikol Pashinyan’s rage towards him, most likely, has deeper and more important motives than personal ones. The problem is not only Armen Ashotyan’s critical behavior of, among other oppositionists, Nikol Pashinyan is criticized by dozens and hundreds of real and imitation oppositionists.
In this case, the direction and consistency of Ashotyan’s criticism is more important. Armen Ashotyan, perhaps more than any other opposition figure, criticizes the current authorities, especially regarding the Artsakh issue.
Moreover, he does it more than consistently and methodically, presenting not only and not so general evaluations, of which there is no shortage, but with a detailed, thorough disclosure and analysis of every step, every statement, and every agreement of the government related to Artsakh.
Ashotyan builds his public activity, especially in the Artsakh issue, not only by presenting the realities of the moment, but also by revealing cause-and-effect connections with the past, which further strengthens the belief among the least thinking part of the public that what is happening is not “negligence and carelessness” (as he tries to are represented by opposition parties acceptable to the government), but betrayal, collaborationism. This also makes Ashotyan a dangerous target for Nikol Pashinyan.
But there is another circumstance as well. Due to his former parliamentary diplomatic work and current party activity, Ashotyan possesses serious political connections, especially in European circles, which perhaps makes him more dangerous for the current government, because the discovery of a possible treason may go beyond the borders of Armenia. And most importantly, why is the political persecution against Ashotyan gaining new momentum right now, and not, let’s say, two months ago or two months later? Actually, Nikol Pashinyan is preparing for the next act of the “peace era”, which can be manifested either by the acquisition of a new document or at least new anti-Artsakh agreements. And that means that he can try to neutralize those oppositionists who will reveal another act of anti-Armenianism through “preventive” steps.
And Ashotyan is in the first ranks of those figures. By the way, the political prosecution against Armen Ashotyan can also become another litmus test for the opposition. If harsher measures are applied to him, even arrest, the opposition can show how united Pashinyan’s policy is in protecting the figure who exposes him, or vice versa, how peaceful he is when Nikol Pashinyan tries to silence his political opponents.
