Transgender Lilit Martirosyan's Interview: ArmDaily.am

After the well-known speech of the transgender individual Lilit Martirosyan in the National Assembly, tensions continue to rise. Accusations are being exchanged among political forces regarding who invited Lilit Martirosyan to the National Assembly.

In an interview with ArmDaily.am, Lilit Martirosyan stated: "A few days before my visit to the National Assembly, it was announced on the National Assembly's website that there would be hearings on human rights. Besides, Facebook is a social platform that allows people to keep track of others' posts; I also saw what Maria Karapetyan wrote, so I called the number listed on the National Assembly's website and requested to register two representatives from the 'Side of Rights' NGO. One is me, as the organization’s president, and the other is my colleague Vrezh Varjabetyan. They confirmed, and I also asked to register for a speech. They said the speeches would be in-person. When we were at the checkpoint, no one facilitated our entry through a special procedure; we left our passports at the checkpoint and went upstairs as required. I do not personally know Maria Karapetyan."

Regarding being expelled from the National Assembly hall by Naira Zohrabyan, Lilit Martirosyan mentioned in an interview: "Naira Zohrabyan says that I deviated from the agenda, but my entire speech was dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights in Armenia and beyond. There were three themes, and I fully fit into the topic of 'Fair Trial and Judicial Reforms.' I presented the findings of our research and cases that are in the courts and with the police, so I did not deviate from the agenda. Additionally, several people who spoke before me also deviated from the agenda, but Naira Zohrabyan did not respond to them in the same manner." Lilit believes that Zohrabyan’s behavior is due to her stating several times in her speeches that she is a subject and does not want that subject to be present in the National Assembly: "I personally felt very offended to be called a subject."

She also added that after her speech in the National Assembly, she received threats from Facebook users, which led her to decide to change her residence. "After my speech, I received threats from various users on Facebook, and when I came home and ordered food from SAS, the delivery person recognized my face and wrote online asking who wanted the address of this transgender person. People spoke, and my home address was shared. After that, I changed my residence because I am convinced that these threats are real."