"Fact" daily writes:
The events that unfolded in Gyumri since yesterday morning once again confirmed the non-existence of Pashinyan's "democratic bastion" and the undisguised strengthening of the absolute police and repressive regime in Armenia.
The problem itself is multi-layered, so let's look at it that way. The political layer of the phenomenon is quite clearly visible. It was obvious that Nikol Pashinyan and CP cannot "digest" the reality of losing the Gyumri Local Government elections, moreover, they are going to "change" the election results with any of the already tried options.
Moreover, Pashinyan himself openly announced the other day that they should do it at any cost, he said that it is a misunderstanding that Vardan Ghukasyan is the mayor of Gyumri, and they should correct that "mistake". Dry facts. Pashinyan and KP lost in local elections in a number of communities, and in the spring of this year they lost in Parakar and Gyumri. In previous cases, for example, in Vanadzor, the elected mayor was arrested, in Alaverdi, the CP seized power with police brutality, in other places, they resorted to post-election manipulations and further distorted the results of citizens' elections.
Vardan Ghukasyan, who was elected mayor by consensus of the opposition forces after Gyumri local government elections, was arrested yesterday. It is necessary to emphasize that local self-government bodies are considered the primary link in modern democratic management systems.
And here, in connection with that primary link, the current government, through repressive bodies subordinate to it, in almost all cases, several months after the elections, "reviews" the voting results. If we call a spade a spade, it means violating the choice made by the citizens.
In short, it is the end of democracy. In addition, flooding Gyumri with hundreds of police officers and committing violence against civilians only gives the impression that the goal is to terrorize the public, to create a dark environment of police terror. By the way, Nikol Pashinyan, who recently likes to make "hearts" with his fingers, seems to have a special grudge against Gyumri, perhaps he did not like that the people of Gyumri not only "rejected" Nikoli", and celebrated the "City Day" sumptuously and impressively, on which the government did not even say a word of congratulation.
Perhaps that's why he organized such a sadistic fight in Gyumri. Get to the legal layer of what happened. The fact that Pashinyan and CP would do something aimed at isolating the mayor of Gyumri, let's repeat, was not unexpected and unpredictable for anyone, even more so it could not be a surprise for Vardan Ghukasyan. he himself recently outlined various scenarios that the Pashinyan government will try to use against him.
But here a number of questions arise: why now, why with that "mass attack" and not only? First, was Vardan Ghukasyan or other suspects invited to the investigator, but he did not go? No, of course. However, that is not interesting for Pashinyan and CP. They need to have "mask shows", "red" berets, "lay on the ground", drag them by force.
For example, how they attacked lawyer Alexander Kochubaev... for a Facebook post. At the same time, let's remind that a few months ago, when the same repressive bodies surrounded Samvel Karapetyan's house for an expression that did not contain any appeal, and he finally came on foot, got into the car, this was not forgiven to the director of the National Security Service loyal to the regime, and the latter was immediately removed from his position...
On the other hand, it is unlikely that a person will know that the authorities are looking for an opportunity to imprison him, and... give such an opportunity. There can be and are different opinions about Vardan Ghukasyan, but he can hardly be considered naive. In that context, the accusation of "bribery" made by the government seems highly suspicious, but probably no one cares about that.
Moreover, let's note that there is a widespread belief that if they are not caught "red handed", then the "bribery case" (any case) is considered one of the most difficult to prove. It is noteworthy that the representatives of the government immediately began to speak in such a tone as if they had not only arrested, but also issued the arrest warrant, even read the verdict. No, what presumption of innocence, what, such phenomena have zero value for CP, as, in general, law and legality.
But there are other forward-looking layers to all of this. See: soon, less than a month later, on November 16, the elections for the head of the enlarged Vagharshapat community will take place. We believe that what happened in Gyumri is directly related to the upcoming local government elections.
Basically, having nothing to offer, the current government, led by Pashinyan and the bodies under his authority, is trying to psychologically oppress, terrorize and terrorize the public. They want to say that it doesn't matter who you will vote for, the important thing is what Nikol Pashinyan will decide. However, why only the Vagharshapat community elections? There are national elections ahead. And what does the government, headed by Pashinyan, who is pursuing the goal of reproduction at any cost, do?
In essence, with the steps taken yesterday in Gyumri and in line with it, Pashinyan and the CP are not only devaluing, but even making the so-called election meaningless. And, finally, won't they put units of "red" berets near each ballot box, or will they put only 1 ballot... They can, of course, resort to that too. But it will not save. After all, people don't just have the right to vote. And the opposition forces should draw their own conclusions from this.
Especially since Pashinyan has nothing more to offer, apart from police "berets", arrests, violence. P.G.- I wonder if the ambassadors, international organizations, human rights defenders, in general, those who declare democracy as their "landmark" have nothing more to say...
ARMEN HAKOBYAN
The details are in today's issue of "Past" daily newspaper
