Yesterday four Armenian diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who were fired after publicly describing last month’s presidential election as fraudulent filed a lawsuit against the Foreign Ministry on saying that their sacking was illegal and must be overturned. Vladimir Karapetyan, Martha Ayvazyan, Karine Afrikyan, and Arakel Semirjyan filed a suit in the Administrative Court against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They were among six Foreign Ministry officials who expressed their “outrage” at serious fraud which they said prevented the February 19 vote from being “civilized, free and fair.” “Only by acting in conformity with the letter and spirit of the law can we create democracy and tolerance in Armenia and earn the country a good reputation abroad,” they said in a joint statement on February 24. They stressed the need for Armenia to have a democratically elected president and expressed their solidarity with Armenians protesting against the official vote results. All the diplomats were swiftly relieved of their duties, with Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan accusing them of breaching an Armenian law that bars diplomats from engaging in political activities. According to their lawyer, Levon Baghdasaryan, who was interviewed by the RFL said that they will also argue during the upcoming court hearings that their sacking by Oskanyan violated some provisions of Armenia’s Labor Code. He said that his defendants demand that their positions are recovered and also financial remuneration of the break. “I didn’t make any political statement,” said Vladimir Karapetyan to the RFL. “Any former diplomat has the right to appeal against a decision of their former boss,” Tigran Balayan, the Foreign Ministry’s current acting spokesman, told RFE/RL, commenting on the lawsuit.
