One of them, the Union of Informed Citizens (UIC), demanded separately that prosecutors open a “hooliganism” case against him. In a “crime report” submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor-General, the UIC said they should also investigate the legality of a brief detention of Garen Megerdichian, an opposition activist who branded Simonian a “traitor.”
The Canadian-Armenian activist claimed that Simonian ordered his bodyguards to overpower him and then spat in his face after he shouted the insult in downtown Yerevan on Sunday. Simonian did not deny spitting at Megerdichian. He said he was gravely insulted and responded accordingly.
Armenian opposition leaders strongly condemned Simonian. Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian said on Tuesday that he must be ousted for his “unforgivable deed.”
The civic groups added their voice to the condemnations. They said the Armenian parliament must set up an ad hoc ethics commission to look into its controversial speaker’s behavior and consider taking other action against him.
“They [the ruling Civil Contract party] like to repeat that they were democratically elected, that the people gave them a vote of confidence,” said Sona Ayvazian of the Armenian branch of Transparency International. “Surely the people did not give them a mandate to spit at citizens.”
Civil Contract holds the majority of parliament seats and can therefore block an ethics probe if it is initiated by opposition deputies.
Vahagn Aleksanian, a senior Civil Contract lawmaker, did not exclude that the party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will discuss the NGOs’ demand. But he defended Simonian and complained that the civil society has not condemned “death threats” to the government which he said have been voiced by some opposition groups.
Vigen Khachatrian, another deputy representing the ruling party, disapproved of Simonian’s behavior while rejecting demands for the speaker’s dismissal.
“I don’t think that this is a matter of resignation,” he said. “I think that there should be a friendly assessment [by the Civil Contract leadership] to the effect that this should not happen again.”
In Aleksanian’s words, the party’s governing board did not discuss the scandal during a meeting chaired by Pashinian late on Tuesday.