Authorities will impose the most severe punishment on ‘Sasna Tsrer’ group members in an attempt to restrain the public rebellion
15:42, August 2, 2016 | News, Other news
Human rights defender Artur Sakunts believes that the authorities will impose the most severe punishment on ‘Sasna Tsrer’ group members who seized the RA Police Patrol and Guard Service Regiment on July 17 and laid down their arms on July 31, in an attempt to restrain the public rebellion.
In his interview to Shabat.am, the human rights defender stated that the NSS statement using the qualification ‘terrorist’ changes everything radically.
“Surprisingly, this assessment is absolutely inconsistent with the articles of the Criminal Code under which the criminal case was initiated; those articles concern seizure of buildings and constructions causing a death of a person. The authorities will be strict, but it is very difficult to foresee the legal progress of the case in a country where no legal mechanisms are in place and the political expediency prevails instead. Apart from legal methods, the authorities should surely apply civil and public methods as well, since it is the authorities who are responsible for the situation at hand and it is the authorities who should find a way out of this situation,” Sakunts said.
According to him, if the authorities now fail to realize the necessity of making changes and take steps towards tightening up the screws, the balloon may burst and everyone will suffer as a result. “Our goal is to prevent the tightening of those screws; at the moment, it is essential to prevent further violence and apply the legal methods effectively. Nevertheless, Armenia is a Council of Europe member state and, of course, it is in need of substantial assistance.”
According to Sakunts, the countries and organizations interested in preventing bloodshed here can now lend a helping hand to Armenia. Among such organizations, he considers the European organizations which have expressed throughout these events their clear position on preventing bloodshed, and the only state actually interested in bloodshed is the Kremlin.
Sakunts emphasized that bloodshed could be caused only in one case if there was a confrontation. “If we consider the overall behavior of the group, it is definitely clear that the group used the arms only to seize the area and there is no evidence that it aimed to cause bloodshed. By that action they aimed to strike a spark, as they put it, so that a civil or public movement emerged and the goals they raised were achieved through a civil movement and not by arms. However, the behavior of the authorities is not only inadequate, but rather seems like adding oil on the fire, which absolutely fails to fit into their concerns that peaceful negotiations should be held.
According to Sakunts, by surrendering the ‘Sasna Tsrer’ group members prevented that possible bloodshed; however, the challenges disclosed after their surrender are still on the agenda; not only have they not been resolved, but also the possibilities of their resolution are uncertain. And the current state of affairs resulted from the inaction of the political framework in RA.
“By their failure to give an adequate response, the political forces showed their alienation from their constituents. The political forces have shown that they are no longer legitimate and not only fail to present the public moods, but are also indifferent to the concerns of RA citizens.”
According to the human rights defender, now we have found ourselves in a new situation in qualitative terms, when we again lack both political, and legal and public mechanisms to resolve the issues at hand. He believes that now some new organizations should be set up and they should be set up by the people as a result of self-organization of the public.
“Either the authorities will apply stricter repressive methods to take control of the situation, or political processes should come to fill the gap to create opportunities for resolution of the issues raised. There should be forces in place to find a way out of this situation by a dialogue. The so-called authorities should develop a road map”, Sakunts emphasized noting that the public is ready to no longer put up with the situation; however, it is essential that the actions do not result in extreme manifestations and mutual destruction.
According to him, now we are on quite a critical edge and the accumulated energy should not be wasted in vain and should not be directed to destruction.