Amnesty or political retribution?
The Armenian Parliament today approved Serzh Sargsyan's proposal on declaring an amnesty with 98 votes for, 1 against and 3 abstentions.
Heritage Party MP Zaruhy Postanjyan voted against the draft project since she views an amnesty as the continuation of political retribution against the arrested MPs.
"This is a mere political requital. Nothing else," Mrs. Postanjyan said to A1+.
Mrs. Postanjyan had made a few suggestions to the Minister of Justice but the latter accepted only one of them. The MP suggested granting an amnesty to the wanted deputies as soon as they showed up. But the proposal was immediately rejected.
"According to the amnesty all wanted people should be back by July 31. An inquest should be launched against them and the cases should be forwarded to court. If the court sentences them to five years' imprisonment they will be pardoned," said Mrs. Postanjyan.
It means that the amnesty will not cover Khachatur Sukiasyan and Nikol Pashinyan.
"As you know the PACE is due to convene a plenary session and by declaring an amnesty our authorities are going to announce that Armenia has met PACE Resolutions making tangible progress in the country," added Zaruhy Postanjyan.
Minister of Justice rejected BHK MP Zaruhy Zohrabyan's proposal not to amnesty people rigging election results.
"I think that election rigging is a grave crime against the state, Mrs. Zohrabyan told A1+ reminding that the 2006 amnesty clearly said that "election falsifiers shall not be amnestied."
