Yesterday Armenian Parliament elected Karen Andreasyan as Armenian Ombudsman, with a vote 83 to 13. Andreasyan’s candidacy was nominated last week by the Armenian parliament majority loyal to President Serzh Sargsyan. Its endorsement by the full National Assembly was thus a mere formality. “If people demand judicial justice, we won’t be able to do that because we don’t look into court cases,” Andreasyan told the parliament. The new ombudsman was careful not to pass judgment on the state of human rights protection in Armenia. Nor would he say whether he agrees with opposition claims that there are political prisoners in the country. It turns out that the activity of the Ombudsman is a service for Andreasyan. Answering lawmakers’ questions before the vote, Andreasyan said he regards human rights advocacy as “a service that must be provided free of charge.” He said that one of his first objectives will be to raise citizens’ awareness of the Office of the State Human Rights Defender and its powers. “I think that the activities of this office must be free of charge and with quality, politeness. We should be interested in adding the number of requests to us,” he said. After this statement several MPs have already started to call Andreasyan “Karen of the service.”
