VIDEO: "I Want to Understand When You Became a Man" - Marukyan to Narek Samsonyan

Armenia is experiencing fateful days, yet our public discourse and engagement are focused on other issues. For instance, they say an opposition activist was detained today, and social media erupts, or a journalist has been arrested. Ruben Hayrapetyan gave an insulting interview from Moscow. This was stated by Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the "Enlightened Armenia" party, during a live broadcast on Facebook.

“Let’s talk about the culture of insult, when a person legitimizes their political activity and has a stance on certain issues, and that person wants to express an opinion, they are insulted. In other words, insult has become a restraining force from expressing their opinion. So, you have a political opinion, but you don’t express it because you will be insulted. This has become part of the culture. Our press uses insults in its headlines, and this culture continues to multiply. We have reached the point where we are forced to turn to law enforcement to address this issue,” he said.

Marukyan informed that Davit Khajakyan, the head of the "Light" faction in the Yerevan City Council and a member of the LHK, has filed a complaint against being insulted, and a criminal case has been initiated based on that complaint. “After that, the individual, in this case, Narek Samsonyan, became aware that a criminal case was initiated, continued to insult me on Facebook last night, which transformed into a more serious crime, ultimately leading to his arrest. Now they are discussing, saying, ‘Oh, how can one arrest a person?’ My friends are writing, ‘Couldn’t this issue be resolved without filing a complaint?’ I was in the USA when Davit contacted me, stating that public insults were being made and that he had received calls threatening him with insults and even recorded the entire conversation. The person doing the insulting is Narek Samsonyan, and the one calling to evict him is one of his friends, though I don’t know who.”

“When I listened to the recording and read the post, I told Davit, ‘We have no options; we are being pushed towards committing a crime. Let’s say, at this moment, I have friends who could gather, grab baseball bats or blunt instruments, and go find that insulter, and say, ‘Who are you insulting?’ Let’s beat him up. Naturally, that person would then go live, claiming, ‘At the bastion of democracy, I am being beaten for expressing my free speech.’ The police will come after us or arrest our friends, initiate a criminal case. They’ll say, ‘You’re important people; you’ve been insulted; there's a law, file a complaint, and you went in there and smashed everything with a baseball bat.’ I told Davit, ‘We can’t go that route,’” Marukyan stated.

He continued, noting that afterward, there was a mediator from Narek Samsonyan, Ruben Melikyan, suggesting they should talk and meet because he understands that Davit Khajakyan is going to file a complaint. “They talk, and Davit suggests, ‘Let’s prepare a text that from now on you won’t use insults; let’s publish that text showing that we met, talked, and resolved it.’ In other words, Davit tried to find a way to prevent the matter from reaching a complaint. He does not accept it. I told Davit, ‘We have two options left: baseball bats or filing a complaint. I choose the complaint; file the complaint!’”

Marukyan added that after the complaint, they called Samsonyan from law enforcement, yet he again went online last night, continued to insult, further aggravating the alleged crime against him. He pointed out that it is interesting when those who insult are confronted, they deny it, claiming, ‘No, I was talking about a fantasy writer.’ And these people position themselves as boys. They are boys, while the one filing the complaint is not a boy. ‘Haven’t you thought that fantasy writers might gather and come to your homes? What will you say then?’ Now I want to understand, how did you decide you were boys, when did you become men? A black fantasy writer will come to you,’ Marukyan said.

For more details, watch the video.