“Zhamanak” blames the Armenian government for the death of Artur Sargsian, the man who was arrested after delivering food to opposition gunmen occupying a police station in Yerevan last July. The paper says that Sargsian’s tragic fate makes mockery of the ruling HHK’s election campaign motto: “Security and progress.” “After all, any security and progress can be put in place only if it emanates from the human being and is based on the human being and the supremacy of human values,” it says. “Any rational and emotional thing can only be measured with that.”
“We have grown accustomed to the fact that human life is worth nothing in this country,” writes “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.” “We have sentenced ourselves to not living, rather than living, here and not letting them live with us. Artur Sargsian caused a rupture between these plans by us and them. Artur Sargsian declared a war on this reality. Some will say he lost. Others will celebrate a victory even at such a price. But we will live on. We will again be faced with the need to deliver food.”
“We must now name those who are to blame for the death of the Food Bringer [Artur Sargsian,]” says “Zhoghovurd.” The paper points the finger at Edik Hakobian, who leads the criminal investigation into the July 2016 attack on the police station in Yerevan and judges Artur Mkrtchian and Karine Ghazarian, Justice Minister Arpine Hovannisian, the chief of her ministry’s prison department, Artur Osikian, Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian and the chief of the Special Investigative Service (SIS), Vahram Shahinian. It says that these individuals for months kept Sargsian under arrest despite his serious health problems and nearly month-long hunger strike. The paper claims that Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, is also responsible because he did not do enough to secure Sargsian’s quick release. It says that President Serzh Sarkisian will also bear responsibility for Sargsian’s death unless he sacks most of these officials.
“Hraparak” says that Sargsian became a “hero of our time” and embodied Armenians’ love for freedom and readiness for personal sacrifice. The paper says this is why his death shocked the Armenian society.
(Tigran Avetisian)
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