Armen Rustamyan: Why should we care for Kocharyan's return? (video)
During the February 26 parliamentary briefings, Head of the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun faction spoke about the arrest of prominent civil activist Vardges Gaspari and recent reports about harassment and intimidation against him. Asked whether Dashnaktsutyun considers Vardges Gaspari as a political prisoner, Armen Rustamyan said, “The criteria to determine whether Gaspari is a political prisoner or not are not set by the ARF. Gaspari will be considered a political prisoner if his detention meets the five international criteria for the definition of a political prisoner.” In reply to the next question whether there have been political prisoners in Armenia after the detention of several ARF members in the 1990s, Mr Rustamyan said. “None of us met the aforesaid five criteria; hence we were not political prisoners. We were struggling against the regime and were arrested. I do not regret my actions and I never wanted to be considered a political prisoner. But we were considered political prisoners by international standards, there were reports, statements and hearings…” Mr Rustamyan added that they have joined the fundraising event for Gaspari’s family but none of his party members has visited Gaspari in prison. “We are following the developments,’ he said adding that when they were imprisoned beating was wide-spread in prison. The next question surprised Mr Rustamyan. When asked whether the cooperation between the HHK and ARF was aimed at preventing Armenia’s second President from returning to politics, the ARF member said, “A political party that has been cooperating with Robert Kocharyan for many years is now blamed for his alienation from politics. Why should we care for his return? Will the ARF stop cooperation with the HHK after Kocahryan’s return? “His return has nothing to do with our programs. We shall cooperate with those forces that will admit and implement our programs, no matter that the HHK uses us as a tool in the process,” Mr Rustamyan said.
