On the morning of April 7, 2015 news spread about searches carried out in the central and regional offices of the Founding Parliament Civil Initiative and about the arrest of its leaders. This news is the logical continuation of the policy of pressure that the authorities started against rebellious opposition forces lately.
According to Peace Dialogue NGO, the RA authorities, particularly the ruling majority and the President Serj Sargsyan, with each new step they make it clear that besides earning the distrust of the people by running an embarrassing (if not criminal) government they appear to believe that in case all their efforts at forcing the political parties to obey them by means of “buying them” or any other “civilized” means fail, they still have the good old method of repression in their arsenal. After a period of systematically abusing their power to turn all political structures into offices that serve the regime and its continuation, by suppressing legitimate protest in Armenia, using the policy of silencing the ever increasing number of opponents by means of their misuse of administrative resources and power, the next step is for the authorities to step up to the abusive use of administrative action and punishment against the dissidents on a larger scale.
By condemning this behavior we believe that this policy of violating the rights of the RA citizens and casting doubt on their legitimacy accelerates us into a system where one can be morally and physically persecuted because of his/her political views. This action does not contribute to the strengthening of democracy and the flourishing of the diversity of ideas that are needed if the country is to move forward. We hope that as a result of this new crackdown on political dissidents, the number of citizens who are dissatisfied with the domestic policy of the authorities will grow and together we will stand against such actions.
In addition to the domestic consequences of such undemocratic action, the reputation of Armenia in the international arena will continue to suffer.
Peace Dialogue NGO
