Iveta Tonoyan on 'My Step' Draft and Pashinyan's Vocabulary: 'Slapping on Walls' and 'Disgraceful Outbursts'

The draft proposed by the 'My Step' faction is yet another evidence of the government’s recent trend of silencing political opponents. This was stated by Iveta Tonoyan, a member of the 'Prosperous Armenia' faction, in an interview with NEWS.am, while commenting on the draft submitted by the 'My Step' faction aimed at depriving NAIRA ZOHRABYAN from the post of Chair of the Permanent Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs.

"The legislative initiative presented by 'My Step' is viewed exclusively in the context of silencing political opponents because when a member of parliament expresses a personal opinion on their Facebook page and then specific political persecution starts against them, I believe there cannot be a second opinion on this. Ms. Zohrabyan’s statements have not been made on the page of the Permanent Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs and are not related to her official powers. It would have been great if 'My Step' monitored the Facebook posts and public statements of its own faction members or other representatives of the government with the same diligence and enthusiasm, where undoubtedly, they would find numerous instances of various calls being made," said Iveta Tonoyan.

It should be noted that the draft introduced by 'My Step' justifies that Naira Zohrabyan makes statements that violate, humiliate, and contain insults towards the human dignity, enshrined as an inalienable value in the Constitution. In this case, she cannot be the head of a committee whose core activity is the protection of human rights.

"If 'My Step' has sufficient political will, I urge them to discuss the correctness of the statements made by their political leader, Nikol Pashinyan, regarding throwing the opposition out of the National Assembly hall, or to evaluate the expressions directed at judges as 'disgraceful outbursts' and discuss those issues,” Tonoyan added.