"Let them eat within reasonable limits"
"Electoral system is the most corrupted in Armenia," says Armenia's Human Rights Defender Armen Harutiunian.
During today's anti-corruption conference entitled "Corruption and Human Rights" Mr. Armen Harutiunian underlined that corruption is a latent phenomenon which still needs to be uncovered.
The Armenian Ombudsman noted that corruption is common in developed countries as well.
"Corruption is not curbed in Armenia as some top-level officials are not interested in the struggle. They arrest a few doctors, judges and professors but this is not a way to combat against the phenomenon. The struggle should be systemized and targeted at the monopoly. The most dangerous is that an ordinary citizen says he is helpless and a state official takes no efforts."
Anyway, Mr. Harutiunian is glad that Armenia ranks the second after Georgia among post-Soviet countries.
Helsinki Association Chairman Avetik Ishkhanian thinks the state system is the most corrupted in Armenia.
"It is too easy to control a corrupted official therefore the authorities do not struggle against corruption," says Mr. Ishkhanian.
"The struggle is senseless unless our citizens' attitude towards corruption is changed. Our mentality is corrupted. Frequently you can hear people saying "Let the authorities eat within reasonable limits." In Armenia, people long for power to obtain corruption levers and not to implement ideas."
