Punishing the Disobedient: Arman Tatoyan is Next, Says 'Zhoghovurd'

The newly elected member of the Supreme Judicial Council, Gagik Jhangiryan, has achieved his goal. Yesterday, under Jhangiryan's signature, the powers of the president of the Supreme Judicial Council, Ruben Vardazaryan, were suspended, and the duties of the president will now be performed by Gagik Jhangiryan. This change was not coincidental, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had instructed to achieve Vardazaryan's resignation through threats of criminal cases.

It is noteworthy that Vardazaryan's wife was also invited to the National Security Service in relation to a criminal case initiated based on the examination of her declaration. Additionally, there are two criminal cases opened against Ruben Vardazaryan. It turns out that the authorities were not satisfied with the campaign against him in the parliament and moved on to other methods of punishment. The campaign against Vardazaryan had begun long ago; the 'Zhoghovurd' newspaper had written back on June 10, 2020, that the authorities had demanded that the president of the Supreme Judicial Council, Ruben Vardazaryan, write a resignation letter and leave the system. The reason was his close ties with the former director of the National Security Service, Artur Vanetsyan. We had written that after the former president of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasyan, the next target would indeed be Vardazaryan.

According to our information, the next target of the authorities is the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan. It should be noted that although Gagik Jhangiryan’s age does not correspond to the requirements for being elected as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council, he was sent to the Council while bypassing the laws so that he could take control of all disobedient judges. Of course, the authorities have promised Jhangiryan the position of president of the Supreme Judicial Council.

Thus, the authorities, who preach cleanliness and impartiality, and who were displeased with Ruben Vardazaryan's past and friendly ties, have made a person president of the Supreme Judicial Council who has numerous scandalous cases about abuses linked to the brutality during his years as a military prosecutor. The most notable is the Mataghis case, when due to Jhangiryan's actions, a group of innocent young people spent about six years in prison and were later exonerated, while Armenia lost in the European Court of Human Rights,” writes the newspaper.

Read the full article in today’s issue of the newspaper.