“Zhoghovurd” says that the stabbing of an opposition activist during Saturday’s rally in Gyumri organized by the Founding Parliament movement demonstrated the undemocratic essence of Armenia’s political leadership. “The fact that some young men dared to throw eggs at participants of the rally in the presence of policemen and easily flee the scene after stabbing a citizen who tried to stop their actions shows that it was done on direct government orders,” alleges the paper. It points out that the Armenian police have not detained the man thought to have stabbed the Founding Parliament activist, Hrach Mirzoyan.
“Generally speaking, what happened in Gyumri was the result of an old Armenian tradition whereby the authorities try to thwart any opposition action or activity with the help of thugs,” writes “Zhamanak.” “These traditional attacks have been a key government weapon against any opposition activity for the past two decades.”
“In Armenia, the criminal underworld is a fairly well-organized institutionalized structure guided by certain laws,” “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” writes on the same subject. “There are those who give orders, those who executive orders and the like. On some issues this structure cooperates with other structures such as the police, naturally on the basis of its vested interests. As a rule, crime figures do not engage in politics but they are well aware that the police do and that for the police leadership the number one task is not to combat crime but to help Serzh Sarkisian cling to power.” According to the paper, this is why criminal elements are often involved in politically motivated attacks on opposition activists and other government critics.
“168 Zham” speculates that Russia is anxious to offset a recent “European week” in Armenia (notably a session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and a visit by a European Union commissioner) by dispatching a delegation of the State Duma to Yerevan and organizing a separate trip by the speaker of the Russian lower house, Sergey Naryshkin. “With such quite high-level visits, the Russian side is trying to respond to Armenia’s European games or quasi-games.”
(Tigran Avetisian)