Armenian
News Network / Groong
Conversation on Groong: Former Artsakh Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan
Hello and welcome to the
Armenian News Network, Groong, In this Conversations
on Groong episode, we talk about various human rights and legal issues in
the context of several processes afoot in Armenia and Artsakh, following the
second war in Artsakh.
This episode was recorded on Saturday, January 16, 2021.
Today, we’ll be discussing various legal and
human-rights topics within the context of recent developments in Armenia.
To talk about these issues, we are joined by:
|
Ruben Melikyan, who was
formerly Artsakh’s Human Rights Ombudsman and prior to that rector of the
Justice Academy of Armenia. In 2019, Melikyan
co-founded and currently leads the “Path of Law” NGO. |
|
As former human rights ombudsman in Karabakh
what has been your experience on the topic of prisoners of war? Point 8 of the
Nov 9 statement governs the exchange of prisoners and we’ve previously heard
that they’re supposed to be exchanged based on the principle of all for all,
meaning Armenia hands over all of prisoners in its custody and Azerbaijan
vice-versa. The issue of POW exchange is also codified in international
conventions, such as the Geneva Convention. Why in your opinion are we still
talking about this issue today?
Do we know how many Armenians are in Azerbaijani
custody? We’ve seen reports from Azerbaijan that they intend to treat these
remaining prisoners not as POWs but as terrorists, or saboteurs, or file other
criminal charges against them, which implies a different set of rules in handling
them. What legal recourse does Armenia have in case Azerbaijan continues to
pursue this route?
In 2018, Nikol Pashinyan promised to release all political prisoners in
Armenia. Since then, his administration has stated that Armenia no longer has
political prisoners. What is your assessment about the state of political
prisoners and politically motivated prosecution in Armenia?
After the January 11 agreement announced in
Moscow, the Pashinyan administration seems to be
switching its focus to internal affairs and specifically legal reforms. Could
you tell us what the government plans to do and what is your opinion on the
process? Is now the right time to conduct such reforms?
On January 13, the parliamentary majority, My Step faction announced that they will
unanimously endorse Gagik Jahangiryan as a member of
the Supreme Judicial Council. What is your opinion on this appointment and
where do you think the government is going with this?
Earlier this year, the Armenian government
(after a lengthy process) was able to force the retirement of three
constitutional court judges as well as replacing the head of the constitutional
court Hrayr Tovmasyan. At least some of the judges
have applied to the ECHR claiming their rights were violated. What is your
opinion about this entire process? What would happen if they won the ECHR case?
What is your opinion on the realignment of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan line of contact based on oral agreements between Pashinyan and Aliyev? Can such a verbal agreement have any
legal force? Pashinyan says that this is not
demarcation or delineation, however, Tigran Avinyan
has used the word “demarcation” in the past, and our own experts have been
unequivocal about it: that there is a process of border demarcation and
delineation in progress, the priority of which today is unclear or at least
unstated.
That concludes this Conversations On
Groong episode. We hope it was
helpful in your understanding of some of the issues involved. We look forward
to your feedback, including your suggestions for Conversation topics in
the future. Contact us on our website, at groong.org,
or on our Facebook Page “ANN - Groong”,
or in our Facebook Group “Groong - Armenian News Network”.
Special thanks to Laura
Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. On behalf of everyone in this
episode, we wish you a good week. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channels, Like our pages and follow us on social media. Thank you for
listening and we’ll talk to you soon.
Nagorno Karabakh, Artsakh, Ombudsman, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Baku, Human Rights, Ruben Melikyan, ECHR,
Europe, European Commission, War, POW, MIA, Nikol Pashinyan, 44-day war, Tigran Avinyan,
Gagik Jahangiryan
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