Armenian opposition leader set to go to European court over corruption

A1+ web site
23 Feb 05

The leader of the Human Rights and Democracy Party, Ruben Torosyan,
announced today that corruption is ingrained in the ruling coalition
in Armenia. He has even invented an appropriate term “kleptocracy” for
that.

In Torosyan’s opinion the three-party coalition formed with the
president’s [Robert Kocharyan] help is the embodiment of corruption.

“The parties which backed Kocharyan in the elections were given the
ministries,” Torosyan told the news conference today. Torosyan was
indignant that his own and other citizens’ rights were violated. He
said that at least 85 MPs of the National Assembly, which are not part
of the ruling coalition [Justice bloc, the National Unity Party, and
the United Labour Party], are not taking part in the work of the
government.

“The rights of those citizens who voted for the Justice bloc, the
National Unity Party and the United Labour Party and also for the
deputies on the majority lists are thus being violated,” Ruben
Torosyan clarified. He thinks that it is pointless to appeal to the
Armenian judicial system and is going to appeal to the European Court
on Human Rights instead.

By the way, the Human Rights and Democracy Party today published a
booklet entitled “Coalition+Corruption equals Kleptocracy”.