YEREVAN. – There is no evidence base as such in the statement of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia. Former Minister of Justice Arpine Hovhannisyan said this Friday to reporters at Marshal Baghramyan Avenue in the capital Yerevan.
“That is, it is a statement under which one can already see the readiness of the Armed Forces staff and command staff to provide that evidence. In that case, yes, the Prosecutor General is obliged to take measures prescribed by law and initiate a criminal case against the traitor on the universal scale in Armenia’s history,” she said, referring to PM Nikol Pashinyan.
To the question whether the statement of the General Staff is an occasion for the Prosecutor General to contact Onik Gasparyan—Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Hovhannisyan said: “It is definitely an occasion to get in touch; he must take that action. If I rely on his behavior for [the past] three years, he will not get in touch. [But] if I rely on remnant memory, dignity and being concerned for the fate of the country, then he must, he must do it, and I hope he will do it.”
Referring to Pashinyan’s words that he will not allow the army to come out against the people, Hovhannisyan responded: “He has no potential to allow or not to allow. I said that without the army, the prime minister is a ‘headless horseman.’ As a lawyer, I say that there was not even an insinuation of an armed coup in that statement [by the army general staff]. Therefore, the prime minister must be very careful in his statements, as it may turn out that it is not the Armed Forces, but himself who will be outlawed.”
And when asked what will happen if President Armen Sarkissian does not sign Pashinyan’s petition submitted to him to sack Onik Gasparyan, Arpine Hovhannisyan said that there are two ways to resolve the issue. “If Armen Sarkissian does not sign within three days and does not take any action, then Onik Gasparyan will be considered dismissed by force of law.
Under the Constitution, there is a second option that if the President returns—with his observations—to the person who gave the proposal—the prime minister—and notes his observations—and there are clear manifestations of unconstitutionality there—, the prime minister can send it back, in which case the President has two options: either signs or sends [it] to the Constitutional Court. As I confidently say that it is a decision that contradicts the Constitution, Armen Sarkissian shall send that petition back; if it comes back, he [shall] send it to the Constitutional Court,” she said.