All the specifics of political persecution fall within the scope of a political order: Aram Vardevanyan

Among supporters, members and associates of Strong Armenia alone, there have been more than 300 cases in which arrests, detentions and criminal-repressive instruments were used. All of them had a political component. This was stated in a conversation with Alpha News by Aram Vardevanyan, vice speaker of the National Assembly, commenting on the discussions about political persecution in Armenia.

“In general, when we talk about selective prosecution, the political authorities must bear responsibility for it. That is, in the case of political persecution, responsibility lies with a specific political team. Of course, if we look at how it is ultimately carried out, the mechanism is set in motion by an investigator, a prosecutor and a court, but the entire specificity of political persecution lies within the framework of a political order. Consequently, this falls within the zone of responsibility of the Civil Contract party,” he said.

According to Vardevanyan, in a certain sense it is the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that is calling on the Armenian authorities to stop this process.

The vice speaker of the NA also touched on the situation with Prosperous Armenia, noting that this is more a matter of political assessment, since, according to him, the legal tools have already been exhausted.

“It was very important to record this in the context of the general political atmosphere. Civil Contract benefited most from the weight of the PAP’s mandates. All of this raises the question of the legitimacy of precisely those 3/5 of the mandates that CC received. It is important to remind our compatriots here that if CC had not had 3/5, this in turn would have triggered a whole chain of consequences,” he said.