Armenian Ombudsman Pats Himself on the Back as He Exits the Stage

RA Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunyan, who has submitted his formal resignation, believes that his office succeeded in staying away as far as possible from the political arena, with respect to both the opposition and the ruling authorities.

“Relatively, nevertheless, I think, we succeeded because, if you recall, occasionally pro-government political forces complained of us; occasionally, the opposition. Since we were able to, nevertheless, assimilate in neither this side nor the other, I think, this is a great result.

“But I think, on the other hand, there’s work to do and this will be the greatest challenge for the next ombudsman because, honestly, in many cases he also should be ready for political blackmail directly through the press, when they can write false and dirty articles about him: he has to not pay attention to all that and be able to toe his line,” he said.