Armenian ombudsman accuses authorities of pressure
Arminfo
5 Jul 05
YEREVAN
“The pressure the Armenian law-enforcement agencies are exerting on me
is the authorities’ painful reaction to the annual report about my
work,” Armenian ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan told our correspondent
while commenting on events related to the Armenian ombudsman’s
institute.
She said that the authorities of any state should stimulate the
ombudsman’s work which is aimed at protecting citizens’ rights. The
situation is quite paradoxical in Armenia. Instead of helping me, the
authorities started putting pressure on the institute after the
ombudsman’s report was published.
“I expected a sharp reaction, but I did not expect that it would be so
painful, especially as people named after classics of Russian
literature (meaning human rights champion Pushkin Serobyan who accused
Alaverdyan of inaction) are involved in the process.
Alaverdyan believes that her institute “is working the way it worked
before and practically nothing has changed”. As for the issue of
whether her employee Serob Antinyan had taken a bribe or not, this
should be decided by the court, the ombudsman stressed.
It must be remembered that on 26 May the Armenian National Security
Service [NSS] arrested an employee of the Armenian ombudsman’s office,
Serob Antinyan, on charges of extortion and bribery. Alaverdyan also
expressed her confidence at today’s news conference that the country’s
parliament will re-elect her to the post of ombudsman after the
approval of a package of constitutional amendments in a nationwide
referendum. “And then I will be able to work normally,” the ombudsman
thinks.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress