Twelve of the 29 deputies representing Hayastan in Armenia’s parliament are currently not allowed to leave the country because of having been indicted in various criminal cases. They include the bloc’s parliamentary leader Seyran Ohanian, deputy speaker Ishkhan Saghatelian and Armen Gevorgian, the chairman of the parliament’s Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration.
Gevorgian is the sole full-fledged opposition member of the Armenian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). He and Hayastan’s top leader, former President Robert Kocharian, are standing trial on corruption charges strongly denied by them.
The judge presiding over the trial, Anna Danibekian, refused to allow Gevorgian to attend the PACE’s autumn session held in Strasbourg in September. She also banned Kocharian from visiting Moscow at the invitation of Russia’s ruling party.
Hayastan condemned those decisions, saying that they were made under strong government pressure.
The bloc announced this week that its parliamentarians not charged with any crimes will not join Armenian parliamentary delegations travelling abroad out of solidarity with their indicted colleagues.
Armen Rustamian, another senior Hayastan lawmaker, has the status of a “substitute” in the Armenian delegation in the PACE. Rustamian confirmed on Thursday that he will not attend PACE sessions as long as the travel bans remain in force.
“I would not respect myself if I did,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“Our deputies are deprived of the possibility of performing their duties in full. We will not tolerate that,” said Rustamian.
Three of the indicted Hayastan deputies, including a prominent surgeon, are currently under arrest. Kocharian’s bloc has repeatedly described the accusations brought against them as baseless and politically motivated.
Also facing criminal charges are the parliamentary leader and two other members of the Pativ Unem bloc, the second opposition force represented in the Armenian parliament. One of them, Hayk Mamijanian, denounced the resulting travel bans as “blatantly illegal.”
But Mamijanian made clear that the other Pativ Unem deputies will boycott only those trips abroad which will be regarded by them as “political tourism.” They will participate in meetings that could be used for “furthering our country’s interests,” he said.
Anush Beghloyan, a deputy from the ruling Civil Contract party, dismissed Hayastan’s complaints and criticized the boycott announced by the opposition bloc. She said her opposition colleagues not allowed to leave Armenia can attend international meetings remotely.