DEPUTIES "DRINK TOAST FOR GENERAL PROSECUTOR"

Panorama.am
19:40 13/09/2007

As already reported by panorama.am, the National Assembly has,
for the first time, reelected the previously serving general
prosecutor, Aghvan Hovsepyan, who has already served in the post
for six years. Representatives of the ruling bloc of Dashnaktsutyun,
Prosperous Armenia, and the Republican party all voiced their support
for Hovsepyan. Not only that, Raffik Petrosyan, of the Republican
party, challenged all deputies to vote for Hovsepyan.

Concerning the Heritage party, deputy Vardan Khachatryan stated that
even though the position is of an intellectual nature, they voted
from their conscious. He then said all in his party would support
Hovsepyan in his future work. Through all this, Legal Party members
remained silent, saying nothing about their position on the matter.

Before the actual vote, praise from the podium for Hovsepyan was
unlimited. The most lavish praise was received from Republican and
Prosperous Armenia party members. "He is a man of action, a poet
and artist, a strong public figure," said Hranush Hakopyan, who
was followed by Arevik Petrosyan, of Prosperous Armenia, who said,
"Respectable parents, obedient son, his work is of an international
stature." (She has in mind the "Circle Dance for Unity" and tree
planting…author).

And Hamlet Harutyunyan, of the Republicans, said Hovsepyan was an
"admirable person, with both professional and human qualities."

After listening to all this, Larissa Alaverdyan, of "Heritage,"
said it seemed as if it was merely an occasion for everyone to give
toasts. "It seems we have gathered only to give someone toasts,"
she said, adding that it was a general prosecutor they were electing,
from whom they must demand much. "We are now choosing between a lawful
future and a criminal present," stated Anahit Bakhshyan, of "Heritage."

Whatever. Of the 125 participating in the vote, four were abstentions,
118 for, and 3 against in the secret voting for Hovsepyan’s election,
nominated, as it happened, by the president of Armenia.