To date, my term of office as Human Rights Defender of Armenia is due to my persistence and the loyalty to my oath, and it is not the achievement or manifestation of goodwill of anyone or any political force. This is stated in the statement issued by Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan.
“I have to respond to the claims that several deputies of the ruling faction of the National Assembly have been making in their public speeches and interviews for a long time now, attempting to create an impression or show that the fact that I am still serving in office is due to their ‘tolerance’.
Moreover, they state that the ruling faction has never given an evaluation of the activities of the Human Rights Defender, presenting it as an achievement.
I responsibly declare that such claims are inaccurate.
During my term of office as Human Rights Defender, especially after the war, there have been different forms of influence prohibited by law, starting from the demands presented by several high-ranking officials to stop or essentially minimize the activities due to the situation after the war and ending with seizure of the cars of employees of the Office of the Human Rights Defender by the government’s decision in order to reduce our opportunities, the consistent attempts to make the Office of the Human Rights Defender financially dependent and the campaigns against the Defender, including with the participation of high-ranking officials of the government and legislature.
Irrespective of all the hardships, I have never presented and will not present myself as a victim and have only done my job as a human rights activist, under apolitical and unbiased principles,” Tatoyan wrote.
