Pashinyan removes potential threat to his rule in Armenia
By Rashid Shirinov
Two big news stunned Armenia last weekend – the country’s judicial power issued a decision to arrest the former president Robert Kocharyan and Yuri Khachaturov, the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Kocharyan was charged with overthrowing the constitutional system in preliminary collusion with other persons. He had previously been summoned as a witness to the Special Investigation Service of Armenia for questioning in the case concerning the bloody events in Yerevan streets on March 1, 2008, when 10 people were killed in mass protests after the presidential election of that year. Khachaturov, who at that time was the head of Yerevan garrison, was also called for questioning as a witness in the case, and then was accused of the same charge. Although the CSTO secretary general was arrested, he was later released on bail of $10,400.
Meanwhile, the actions of the investigative bodies of Armenia raise doubts and suspicions among Armenian experts. Many of them believe that the new authorities’ attitude towards Kocharyan is a vendetta and a political order.
“This case was facilitated by political circumstances. This phenomenon is called selective justice – selective application of the law,” Armenian political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan told Armenian media commenting on the issue.
He added that the new power follows the legalistic way – people are persecuted by law, – but these people are political players, important ones in the political sense. “It should be assumed that the motivation here is largely political,” Iskandaryan said.
It is noteworthy that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who ordered to investigate the events of March 1, is concerned for his rule in the first place, and only then for justice. If this were not the case, he would not release the members of the Sasna Tsrer extremist group, which committed an armed attack and killed three police officers in Yerevan. Having made a deal with Sasna Tsrer, Pashinyan secured his power from the threat posed by the group.
Kocharyan is also a potential threat for Pashinyan’s rule in the country. Obviously, the prime minister wants to solve this problem immediately, without waiting for the parliamentary election, when he may completely lose his high reputation in the Armenian society.
It is also noteworthy that ten years ago, the Republican Party of Armenia in the person of Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan brutally cracked down the opposition in the person of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Pashinyan. Thus, the current prime minister of Armenia had to wait ten long years and even to spend some time in prison before he eventually came to power.
At the same time, one may wonder why Kocharyan’s companion, former president Sargsyan was not yet summoned to the Special Investigation Service. Obviously, that is because he stepped down peacefully – thus he received a guarantee of his security from Pashinyan.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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