Frequent amnesties signal to authoritarianism
"The amnesty will be applied to people arrested after the tragic events of March 1, 2008. Serzh Sargsyan is taking steps to mitigate the political tension," MP Victor Dallakyan said in parliament on Wednesday.
Dallakyan pointed out three reasons behind the amnesty proposal- the goodwill of the authorities, the pressure of the opposition and intervention of the international community.
"The authorities demonstrated goodwill and mercy by declaring an amnesty. The amnesty will enable the authorities and opposition to build up their relations in a civilized way," he said adding that the acting president is not as vindictive as his predecessor.
Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan is confident that the political atmosphere will change after the amnesty is applied.
"The amnesty will be of great humanitarian and political significance, and I'm sure that it will have a positive influence on the political field. Our political assessment is definitely positive. I am convinced that the President made a right decision at the right moment. The amnesty is a manifestation of humanism and can help mitigate the tension and create a basis for cooperation," he said.
"We welcome the amnesty proposal, though we consider it belated," said the head of ARF-Dashnaktsutyun faction Vahan Hovhannisyan.
"A lot of people will be released from prisons under the general amnesty proposed by Serzh Sargsyan. However if we study the history of democratic countries, we can see that they do not grant amnesties so frequently, for they believe that their courts are fair and those, who are behind bars, are real criminals," said Hovhannisyan.
"Frequent amnesties signal to authoritarianism. One of the shortcomings of our authorities is that they create a problem and then start solving it," he concluded.
