On May 27 the human rights defender Armen Harutyunyan promised us to provide with information concerning the fact-finding group when it became clear what the specific status of his office HR manager Vahe Stepanyan was. He also said that “next time he would send a gladiator there so that he could resist.” Two days ago V. Stepanyan submitted a letter of resignation to the president of Armenia and the ombudsman decided to publish the information the latter had told him. V. Stepanyan refused to answer our questions. The ombudsman has told the details to the Aravaot and 168 Hours newspapers.
168 Hours – Mr. Harutyunyan, why did V. Stepanyan resign? There are rumors that as a result of this resignation the authorities want to dissolve the fact-finding group.
– This is not the first time; it is the second or the third time that V. Stepanyan wants to resign from the position of the fact-finding group head. I asked him to return. It is a pity that the environment in the group was politicized so much that an independent expert was not able to work there. The rule of the fact-finding group was that it did not matter who had recommended for the members, if one could become a member, he/she should work independently. Of course I understand that it cannot be done for 100 per cent but anyway they should be independent experts. However they were acting as political representatives. Only Seda Safaryan was following this rule. V. Stepanyan, who wanted to act as an independent expert, was not able to resist that environment because the coalition representatives were extremely passive. In fact they had come there not to do anything. Alas, the ANC representative Andranik Kocharyan was straying the course of the activities from the normal path and insulting the others. We should be fair and admit that during the past 7 months the fact-finding group worked exclusively due to the efforts of V. Stepanyan. This environment of political intolerance became tense during the past three months. The situation was tense to the extent of not choosing between facts or issues but between persons and powers each of them was representing there. They could disagree and not to sign under the reports, they had the right for personal opinion, thus they should have not insulted the others. Being the ombudsman now I have to nominate a new representative to the fact-finding group. I want to inform people that I have found and also I am eager to nominate this person, but the person I am going to nominate will be someone who corresponds to the mentioned format. As for the format, it is not about being an expert but political.
Aravot – Who is your candidate?
– I don’t want to discover this information and you will learn about it when they ask me to discover the name officially. I have talked to this person and he/she is ready. If they want, I can nominate this person even within one hour. The new candidate is a person, who is able to resist this environment but not to leave everything and quit. The biggest shortcoming V. Stepanyan has is that he is too intelligent. He has warned for minimum seven times that if the situation continued he would resign. The process started after the first session again. He understood that it was not his place. Even more, he was ready to leave from here but not to return there again. If a person is not a representative of any political power, he/she cannot be accountable to any power.
Aravot – You say that he wanted to resign three months ago. How would you explain the fact that the processes happened so fast following the publication of the fact-finding group’s report in the media? The report was given to the ad hoc looking into the events of March 1. It was expected that this process would be slow and even the other reports would stuck there.
– Each party may have different opinion. I don’t want to express any opinions but there was no connection at all because if I did not convince him V. Stepanyan would quit 3 months ago. If he decided to escape he would not sign the report. Every person has different potential of nerve resources. The group was working due to V. Stepanyan’s efforts and the parties did not do anything to make his work easier. As the work was very heavy he simply decided to have a rest. The others could work too. The representatives of the coalition went after him and asked to come. He had decided not to go to work for about nine days. But still if they had something to sign he was ready.
Aravot – Has there been any intimidation on V. Stepanyan by the authorities? The reason why I am asking this is the fact that the special investigation group did not agree with the facts in the report. Or, has the published report been signed as a result of intimidation or pressure?
– He has not done anything as a result of anyone’s intimidation. If there was such pressure, it was done by two parties of the fact-finding group. There has been no pressure from outside.
168 Hours – What do you think about the Central Electoral Commission’s decision according to which army servants have the right to vote too?
– My opinion is that according to the law army servants shall not have the right to take part in elections.
168 Hours – What do you think about the fact that the authorities are ignoring your announcements with political contexts concerning the court proceedings of March 1 and other cases?
– Such announcements will be very important in the court of Strasburg tomorrow. Even a little bit later but these announcements will bring to the logical results.
168 Hours – When the case of seven was launched you said that it would last long and you would not wait and would express your opinions in a reasonable time. Almost a half year has passed, what do you think about this court case?
– I don’t think it is time to talk about this. I will publish a specific report on the situation of court cases in the end of the judicial proceedings.
168 Hours – The president Serzh Sargsyan said that he was ready to use his right of granting amnesty but petitioned the political powers and Public Chamber to submit a recommendation to him for this purpose. Are you going to submit such recommendation as human rights defender?
– First, I would explain this the following way: the president tried to use his right provided by the Constitution, and make the political powers to participate in it as well, and now they should express their opinions. I am preparing an announcement to welcome this initiative and apply to the president directly to say that it is really the time and he should grant amnesty.
168 Hours – You were in the area nearby the monument of Myasnikyan on March 1 and perfectly know what happened there, you have also published a strict extraordinary report. Why didn’t you make such recommendation of amnesty before but waited till the president would say about this himself?
– As the ombudsman I have always said during press conferences that amnesty would be the right choice and it would bring to consolidation. Now, when the president said about his initiative, I am changing the method of addressing my message and I will answer otherwise.
168 Hours – The president also calls on the Public Chamber to apply to him with a recommendation as well. Are you going to cooperate with this institution?
– I don’t need to cooperate with the Public Chamber on this matter. It is a new institution, let them examine the issue first. I am doing it more actively so that they may consider the ombudsman’s opinion as well. They will believe the ombudsman’s words that it is time to do that and will apply to the president as well.
168 Hours – What do you think the impact will be if the city council elections of Yerevan are violated again?
– If there are irrational things during this election it will impact the image of our country much.