A Few Questions for Kristine Grigoryan to Understand the Approaches of Our Future Human Rights Defender, Melikyan

The Human Rights Defender is not a "standard" position; you have nothing, except your reputation. If society (first and foremost, the professional community) does not accept you as an authority, then you have no authority. Without authority, you essentially have nothing.

This was stated by human rights defender and former Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Ruben Melikyan on his Facebook page, addressing the decision made by the ruling Civil Contract party to nominate Kristine Grigoryan, the Deputy Minister of Justice, for the position of Human Rights Defender.

“To put it mildly, I do not welcome Kristine Grigoryan’s consent to be nominated as the Human Rights Defender by the Civil Contract. She is a person with no connection to this mission. In any case, I would like to publicly ask Mrs. Grigoryan a few questions as the de facto candidate for the Human Rights Defender, so that people can understand the approaches of their future Human Rights Defender:

1. Do you perceive that the possibility of law enforcement to detain participants of peaceful assemblies on the grounds of "failure to comply with legal demands" is being abused? Is the number of police officers during peaceful gatherings excessive?
2. Do you believe that the Minister of Justice should have the right to initiate disciplinary proceedings against judges? If so, should there be any limitations?
3. Do you perceive that the political force proposing you is not interfering disproportionately with electoral rights when appointing the mayors exclusively from their own nominated candidates?
4. What is your stance on detention as a preventive measure? Is it not being abused against opponents of the ruling party?

That’s all for now,” Melikyan wrote.