Opposition Was Right: We Did Not Participate in the Ruling Party's Show, Gegham Manukyan

Member of the National Assembly from the "Armenia" faction, Gegham Manukyan, made a post on his Facebook page stating: "Yesterday, I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with the report of the investigative committee established to investigate the circumstances of the military actions unleashed on September 27, 2020, in a secret section of the National Assembly.

Although the head of the committee has already publicly disclosed certain aspects of the report that are pleasing to the authorities at his discretion, I will refrain from doing the same, as there is also a legal prohibition against such actions. However, after the very first acquaintance, I would like to note: The opposition was right to boycott the works of this committee, based on all our justifications and arguments, as we did not become part of the ruling party's show, the disgraceful collapse of which is evidenced by blatant violations of the law regarding the committee's deadlines and the lack of a plenary session in the National Assembly.

It is strange and telling that under the finalized report, I did not see the signatures of even several members of the ruling party, including a number of MPs from the Civil Contract party. I cannot open the brackets, but I must state from the very first acquaintance: no matter how this investigative committee was formed to avoid answering the questions repeatedly raised by the public and the broad political circles regarding the 44-day war, and to whitewash the actions of the authorities and Pashinyan during the war, it was impossible to do so, and it is evident to the naked eye after familiarizing myself with the report.

Much more questions arise regarding the authorities, particularly directed towards Pashinyan, concerning his flawed personnel policy, disgraceful appointments, and non-comprehensive analysis related to the army, leading to strategic decision-making issues. Attempts to say what the 'poor fool' could have done do not hold up against criticism, and numerous conclusions and provisions of the report demonstrate that we dealt with someone conducting incompetent, if not purposeful, actions, many of whose decisions had fateful consequences on the bitter outcome of the war.

After familiarizing myself with the report, I will direct numerous questions and inquiries to the Attorney General's Office of Armenia, the Investigative Committee, the National Security Service, and the Police of Armenia, which I will ensure to notify the public about the outcomes. Here are several observations I made after my first acquaintance. We will still have the opportunity to discuss these issues without opening the brackets.

By the way, at the end of the workday, when I was the first member of parliament to read the report and finished the last, the 2015th page, I involuntarily remembered the famous phrase: 'the most important thing in uncovering a crime is not to get caught yourself.' It seemed to be the same situation," wrote Gegham Manukyan.