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“IF OSKANIAN HADN’T DISPLAYED IMMORAL CONDUCT”

Politics

A court in Yerevan opened hearings Wednesday on a lawsuit against the Armenian Foreign Ministry that was filed by four of its senior employees fired for publicly condemning the government’s conduct of last February’s presidential election.

The plaintiffs want the Administrative Court to declare their dismissal illegal and have them reinstated in their jobs.

Four Armenian diplomats who were fired after publicly describing the February 19 Presidential election as fraudulent have filed a lawsuit against the Foreign Ministry, saying that their sacking was illegal and must be overturned. They were among six Foreign Ministry officials who expressed their "outrage" at serious fraud which they said prevented the February 19 vote from being "civilized, free and fair."

They were swiftly relieved of their duties, with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian accusing them of breaching an Armenian law that bars diplomats from engaging in political activities. Oskanian also downplayed the unprecedented gesture of defiance, saying that most of the dissenters have long maintained close ties with opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian and his associates.

The four plaintiffs are the former Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian, Martha Aivazian, the former head of the ministry's NATO desk, Karine Afrikian, the former head of the U.S. and Canada desk, and Arakel Semirjian, a counselor at the Europe desk.

The former MFA officials consider the February 25 decree of former FM Vartan Oskanian on relieving the Armenian diplomats of the posts politically motivated.

Note, Vartan Oskanian had mentioned in a press conference that they had known of the diplomats' political dissent for a long time but had taken no measure in this respect.

“We only expressed our civic stance and concern. There was no reference to our political orientation,” said Martha Aivazian.

“If they want to find any links between Levon Ter-Petrossian and us, I must remind Vartan Oskanian that over 80 per cent of the RA Government and MFA staff, including Vartan Oskanian, were engaged in politics during Ter-Petrossian's office. Vartan Oskanian held higher posts during Ter-Petrossian's presidency,” added Karine Afrikian.

Arakel Semirjian thinks if Vartan Oskanian had joined the diplomats' statement, the March 1 tragic events might have been averted. Vartan Oskanian was to apologise to all fired diplomats and admit that being a top-rank official he was unable to anticipate the tragic events if he had morality."