Throughout
the campaign for the snap parliamentary elections, the Office of the Human
Rights Defender conducted an independent and impartial study of the rallies and
all other events related to the electoral process on a round-the-clock basis,
both on site and by monitoring social networks and media. All alarming-calls,
complaints and appeals on election violations were independently investigated.
The
Office of the Human Rights Defender also focused on cases of abuse of
administrative resources.
This
statement addresses the issue of abuse of administrative resources by the Civil
Contract Party and the Armenia Alliance in connection with the respective final
rallies of the June 17 and June 18.
In
particular, on June 17, during the yesterday’s rally of the acting Prime Minister
of Armenia, publications were recorded, including videos and photos, that
administrative resources were used to organize the participation of people
(including from schools) in rallies through the public administration bodies,
especially the regional administrations. There have been publications about the
involvement of the judicial bodies and the employees of the Office of the
Ministry of Emergency Situations in civilian clothes.
Publications
were recorded that the participation of the employees in the rally on June 17
was organized on the basis of the instructions of "Armeconombank" directorate.
Regarding Armeconombank, an alarming-call was submitted to the Office of the
Human Rights Defender of Armenia separately, expressing concern about possible problems
arising from not participating in the meeting.
The
videos, claiming about forced participation in the rally of the Civil Contract
Party of the patients and employees of “Sevan” Mental Health Center, as well as
the staff of Neuropsychological social care home of Vardenis, were specially
studied.
Upon
the instructions of the Human Rights Defender, unannounced visits to these
psychiatric organizations took place on June 18.
It became
apparent that the patients of "Sevan" Mental Health Center did not
participate in the rally. Instead, it was revealed that there was an organized
participation of the employees in the rally: we are talking about the employees
who have completed the day shift. The Office of the Human Rights Defender did
not find any cases of forced participation of the employees of the psychiatric
hospital.
During
the unannounced visit to the neuropsychological social-care home of Vardenis,
evidences of the participation of the patients in the June 17 rally was not
recorded. It was recorded here was well that prganzied participation of the
staff took place.
Information
has been presented to the Office of the Human Rights Defender that the
participation of the staff of the neuropsychological social-care home of
Vardenis was coordinated by the Director of the “Expert Center for Drugs and
Medical Technologies after Academician Emil Gabrielyan”, Vilen Gabrielyan.
According to the information obtained, V. Gabrielyan gave illegal instructions
to the director of the social-care home to carry out specific actions and
coordinated his work to ensure the participation of the employees in the June
17 rally. According to the information, he also ordered and instructed the
Director on the answers to be given about the published video by other bodies
and media outlets about the participation of the staff of the social-care home
The
Human Rights Defender of Armenia calls on everyone to stop the publications
about the patients and staff of the mentioned and other psychological
institutions, and refrain from involving them in political issues, including
manipulations. Such phenomena target, stigmatize and discriminate against
persons cared for in psychiatric institutions, and violate their rights.
In
connection to the June 18 rally, the Office of the Human Rights recorded
publications containing verifiable information on the misuse of administrative
resources to participate in the “Armenia” alliance's final rally. In
particular, this refers to the organized participation of the staff of
“Electric Networks of Armenia” CJSC, “Gazprom Armenia” CJSC, and “Yeraz”
business center in the June 18 rally. The Office of the Human Rights Defender
recorded the publication of these data by civil society organizations.
The published
recording regarding the organized participation of the staff by the executive
director of "Izmirlian" medical center, professor, Dr. Armen
Charchyan, included in the pre-election ballot of “Armenia” alliance, as well
as the initiation of criminal prosecution against him, has been recorded.
All
the details will be sent to the Prosecutor’s Office for verification.
We
would like to mention that during the pre-election campaign, the Office Human
Rights Defender regularly sent the data or materials at its disposal to the law
enforcement bodies.
Taking
into consideration the critical importance of the snap parliamentary elections
to the country, the current situation and the obligation of the state to
guarantee the freedom of peaceful assembly, the mentioned information should be
checked within the framework of a proper legal procedure.
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