PM and Ombudsman Put in a Bad Situation when Citizen Spoke about Human Rights: Hraparak

Yesterday, during a conference organized by Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan, a citizen, Miasnik Patvakanyan, put the PM Hovik Abrahamyan and the Ombudsman in an awkward situation, writes Hraparak daily.

During the presentation of an economic report, Patvakanyan entered the hall and unexpectedly began speaking about the poor condition of human rights in Armenia, while earlier the Ombudsman had spoken positively about the work of state institutions in the field of defending human rights.

Karen Andreasyan attempted to muffle Patvakanyan by speaking louder on his microphone.

“The Prime Minister was caught off guard and glaringly listened to the citizen. US Ambassador John Heffern initially tried to discern the citizen’s frustration, later turning to the woman sitting next to him for help. The man continued to speak of the Ombudsman’s lack of action toward dissent, while the PM and Andreasyan looked left and right expressing a call for help. Of course, if there weren’t representatives of international organizations among the guests, they would have immediately taken him out of the hall with force, but the presence of guests forced them to calmly listen,” writes Hraparak journalist Gayane Saribekyan.

Karen Andreasyan tried justifying the situation by saying that he had listened to the man multiple times and that Patvakanyan’s intrusion to the hall testifies to human rights freedom in Armenia.

“And behold, seconds after this observation, after the citizen’s departure, they locked the door from the inside. However, the strangest part of the incident occurred at the end. While Patvakanyan was expressing his constant discontent about the Ombudsman’s office’s lack of action and their lack of proper attention toward his complaints, a female staffer of the Ombudsman office whispered in my ear saying that he was registered at the Salt Plant psychiatric facility. I asked then how he could have known about the conference, to which the staffer excitedly explained that he is aware of everything and knows about all the events,” writes Saribekyan.