The Police, NSS, and Investigative Bodies are the Prime Minister's Personal Guards

Human rights defender and head of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, Avetik Ishkhanian, wrote on his Facebook page: “Following my last post about the meeting, I was explained that the format called 'Chatham House' does not imply a closed meeting, and that it is permissible to publish the topics of discussions without citing sources. Thus, during the meeting with the Prime Minister, one of the participants raised the following question (almost a verbatim quote):

- The protection of human rights depends on the state structure of a given country. Therefore, when state structures are merged with political power and the principle of separation of powers does not operate, Louis XIV's statement that 'the state is me' comes into effect. A similar monarchical system has been established in Armenia since the 1990s, and the systemic nature of human rights violations is less due to individuals than to the very system.

In 2015, constitutional amendments transitioned Armenia's governance system from a parliamentary to a presidential one, granting the Prime Minister the same powers as the President.

After the end of World War II, the Council of Europe was created with the sole purpose of protecting the rights of individuals in member countries. Interestingly, according to the fundamental document of the Council of Europe, it is based on three values: democracy, the rule of law, which implies an independent judicial system. And the most interesting thing is that the third value—human rights, for which the Council of Europe was founded—derives from the first and second values.

Not doubting the results of last year's parliamentary elections, I believe that it was more of a referendum on trust, and it is still too early to speak about the irreversibility of the first value, democracy, in Armenia. We can only talk about real democracy in the future, after 2-3 nationwide elections.

When discussing the second value, everyone only considers the issue of judicial independence. However, the entire legal system must also be independent of political power. Today, in Armenia, the police, NSS (National Security Service), and investigative bodies are the Prime Minister's personal guards.

Question: Are legislative reforms expected, namely to independent these mentioned state structures from political influence? AND one rhetorical question: Have political departments, i.e., ministries, been granted the opportunities to make decisions and act independently within their domains?