FREQUENT AMNESTIES SIGNAL TO AUTHORITARIANISM

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25 May 2011

“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.