An Interesting Meeting Took Place in the Office of Former Center District Mayor Viktor Mnatsakanyan

The newspaper "Fact" reports: "Recently, a significant event occurred that bizarrely escaped the attention of our society: for the first time in Yerevan's history, the Administrative Court has suspended a decision of the City Council regarding structural changes within the staff. This seemingly minor occurrence, in reality, holds intriguing layers.

Despite the fact that the changes pertain to 35 employees of the Center administrative district, only 5 of them have appealed to the administrative court against the council, meaning the responsible party is the Yerevan City Council. The council’s decision is not an administrative act, and even if there was a need for judicial contestation, it should have been examined in a different court, by a different body. However, the claimants have approached the administrative court, which arbitrarily deemed the council’s decision an administrative act and accepted the case, suspending the execution of the council's decision.

According to lawyers, this is such an obvious illegal act that the issue is currently being discussed both by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council. Is this some random misunderstanding? It turns out not. Our sources assert that an interesting meeting took place between former Center district head Viktor Mnatsakanyan, the head of the Center district construction and land use department Manuel Margaryan, former head of the financial department of the Center district and current employee of the State Revenue Committee Tigran Kankanyan, and the judge who accepted the case, Hrach Aivazyan, before the court's proceedings began.

The meeting was held in Viktor Mnatsakanyan’s office, who is now the director of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall. A few days after that meeting, Judge Aivazyan accepted this application with a stroke of his pen, suspending the City Council's decision.

Also strange is the speed with which the court has accepted this case. The Administrative Court, known for its sluggishness, spent 2 working days on this case, which in turn raises suspicions. Nevertheless, the first court session is set for April 27. There are reports that the claimants, with the active involvement of the judge, are preparing to endlessly delay the examination of the case.

But where did this story start? The fact is that, according to circulating information, the dismissal of Viktor Mnatsakanyan by Mayor Hayk Marutyan was related to his ties with former officials and the resulting decisions favoring the former officials numbering in the dozens. The decision was made to resolve this quietly, and Mayor Marutyan appointed his childhood friend Avet Poghosyan as the head of the Center district, whom he trusts unconditionally.

The new head has implemented a very strict personnel policy and has practically initiated a personnel purge, resulting in the replacement of 7 department heads and the dismissal of about 30 employees. Sources in the Center district report that, in essence, a political persecution is being carried out against all employees who in one way or another maintain ties with former officials, and intolerance is displayed towards critics of Nikol Pashinyan and Mayor Hayk Marutyan, creating conditions for unwanted individuals to voluntarily leave their positions. Such cases number in the dozens.

A question arises: why is there so much tolerance towards Manuel Margaryan, the head of the Center district construction and land use department, who also critiques the authorities left and right? The fact is that Manuel Margaryan is a member of the ruling party and became a member after the 2018 revolution, enjoying the support of an anti-mayor faction within the party. According to our sources, over time, a conflict situation has developed between Manuel Margaryan and the deputy head of the Center district, Armen Azizyan. Azizyan has documented episodes of corrupt activities in Margaryan's operations, while Margaryan, understanding that law enforcement would take an interest in his activities, has filed corruption charges against Azizyan.

Our information suggests that several criminal cases are being investigated by law enforcement activities in this regard. In the state system, there is an opinion that this is a very typical situation to understand what is happening behind the scenes of the government and the ruling Civil Contract party. In fact, there are people for whom a party card or office is a carte blanche for engaging in illegal activities, including corruption. Notably, the press has already reported on the cases being investigated against Armen Azizyan. In the coming days, we will refer to the criminal case concerning Manuel Margaryan, which contains quite interesting material about the activities of newly-emerged party members and shows how they resolve personal issues while hiding under the umbrella of party-revolutionary protection."