“The Ambassador stressed U.S. support for Armenia’s democratic trajectory,” the embassy wrote on Twitter.
It did not name the deputies who met with Tracy. It said only that they are affiliated with the main opposition Hayastan bloc.
The bloc headed by former President Robert Kocharian did not issue any statements on the meeting held on Wednesday.
Hayastan and the other parliamentary opposition force, Pativ Unem, issued a joint statement on February 3 strongly condemning criminal proceedings launched against a judge who freed a well-known opposition figure on January 26.
The judge, Boris Bakhshiyan, was arrested on Monday on charges stemming from another decision made by him recently. He rejects them as government retribution. Armenia’s Union of Judges and outgoing human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, have also deplored Bakhshiyan’s arrest.
In their statement, Hayastan and Pativ Unem demanded that the international community react to the “collapse of democracy in Armenia” and be “conscious of their share of responsibility.”
Armenia - Opposition supporters protest outside the EU Delegation office in Yerevan, February 10, 2022.
In recent months, representatives of the two opposition groups have repeatedly accused Western powers of turning a blind eye to what they see as government crackdowns on opposition figures and independent-minded judges.
U.S. and European Union officials have not publicly echoed the Armenian opposition concerns. They regularly voice support for “reforms” promised or implemented by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration.
On Thursday, Tracy met with Armenia’s Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian. She stressed, among other things, “the importance of judicial independence and integrity,” according to the U.S. Embassy.
The ambassador’s meeting with Davtian came the day after Pashinian’s Civil Contract party pushed through the Armenian parliament last-minute legal amendments that will make it easier for law-enforcement authorities to indict and arrest judges.
Opposition lawmakers denounced the amendments as another blow to judicial independence.