Naira Zohrabian, the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), tells “Aravot” that their representative attended the first meeting of the new anti-corruption council earlier this week because “we are not being guided by what one political party or another does, but have our own agenda.” The BHK was the only opposition party participating in the meeting of the government-affiliated body. “The BHK does not have a marriage contract with the anti-corruption council or any other body. We said that our representative will attend a couple of meetings and if we see that these meetings have an imitational nature, then we will stop our participation,” she explained.
“Zhamanak” says that the recent arrest of Syunik’s controversial governor Surik Khachatrian’s son Tigran over his alleged involvement in a violent incident is the most “unusual” step by the authorities after the rare statement by the National Security Service (NSS) chief who said at a government meeting that people do not trust the government. “[But on the whole] that unusual statement appears to have fallen on deaf ears, if, of course, we do not consider the appointment of an NSS major as spokesperson for the president,” the paper adds.
“Zhoghovurd” suggests that Governor Khachatrian was lying on May 4 when in answering journalists’ questions in parliament he said that his son had nothing to do with the Goris incident in which one young man was injured. “At that time, he gave assurances that his son Tigran at the time of the incident was in Yerevan. But today his son is in custody in connection with this case, which means that the governor told a lie. And the fact that an official can brazenly tell lies is dangerous for both ordinary citizens and this official’s colleagues. [President] Serzh Sarkisian and [Prime Minister] Hovik Abrahamian have all reasons to be worried about their fellow party member’s telling lies and misleading them as well,” the daily writes.
(Anush Mkrtchian)