Taking into consideration the speculations
concerning the competences of the Human Rights Defender, we consider it necessary
to clarify the following:
1.
If a person, who does not hold any state
position or is not endowed with state powers, threatens any official or
non-official, or uses violence against him, it is not within the competence of
the Human Rights Defender to prosecute, arrest or detain the perpetrator or to legally
qualify their action to hold citizens accountable.
For the above-mentioned, there exists law
enforcement bodies and courts in Armenia, like in any other country. Therefore,
these issues, for example, are within the competence of the Police, the investigative
bodies or the Office of the Prosecutor General or the court.
The Human Rights defender is not in a position
to perform their work.
It is another issue, as to why those who are speculating
issues related to the competences of the Human Rights Defender are not applying
to those bodies, or what those bodies are preoccupied with, when grounds have
come to existence that relate to their competence.
The competences of the Human Rights Defender arise,
for example, when in a concrete case (when someone publically or not publically
threatens or commits violence against another person) a citizen-citizen
relationship is transferred to the citizen-state or state-citizen platform. For
example, a citizen complains that law enforcement bodies do not properly
investigate the case of threats made against him, or allow violations, or
refuse to investigate at all.
2. Since
it is also the function of the Human Rights Defender to improve the human
rights system in the country, and to promote an atmosphere of solidarity, the
Defender addresses all human rights issues at the systemic and institutional
levels, without giving legal assessments to the specific actions of individuals
with the intention to hold them accountable; this is always done aimed at excluding
any violation of human rights. For example, this statement contains a detailed
reference to the insults and hatred ahead of yesterday's mass events.
Therefore, we urge all parties to study in
detail the legal norms related to the law enforcement bodies and courts, the
Constitution of our country, as well as the Constitutional Law of Armenia on
the Human Rights Defender, and international treaties of Armenia.
P.S. We will cover the rest of the speculations
in more detail later during the day.
Հայերեն
