If bishops and other clergy are imprisoned, you are not advocates of free speech: Vardan Ghukasian

Kyarnik Harutyunyan's speech mainly pertains to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the members of the NA from the Civil Contract party more than to the Mayor of Gyumri or the members of the city council. Because if the Prime Minister tells his aunt to act violently, and another says, 'I will cut off your ear, I will cut off your tongue,' thank you for waking them up, whoever has a share of guilt should come and take their part. This was announced by Mayor Vardan Ghukasian during a session of the Gyumri City Council, referring to the statement made by Civil Contract party member Kyarnik Harutyunyan.

“Secondly, as I understood it, you are speaking in the language of blackmail, saying 'if you vote for us, do not take offense later.' That is, there are people facing legal charges, and you are awakening them, and warning whom you are preparing for later,” he stated.

Speaking about the arrests and detentions of clergy members, Mayor Ghukasian noted: “If bishops and other clergy are imprisoned, you are not champions of free speech; you cannot speak about that; it is simply false. I lived during the Soviet Union, and I have not seen anything like this, except perhaps in 1937, where the elders spoke. The same is happening today.”

Regarding salary increases, he commented, “Every year during your time, the subsidy has increased; you should have increased it too. It has been 37 years and no city in Armenia has seen a 30% salary increase. Yes, you have increased pensions by 536 drams. You had no desire to increase it, while next year we will raise salaries by another 25%, I know where the funds come from.”

“You were not giving graduation documents to people, they have sued for 50 million from the city hall. Moreover, you unjustifiably fired people; one person is now asking for 7 million, another lost their kiosks worth 25 million. Regarding the time when that illegality occurred, we should sue those mayors to recoup that money from them, not from the city budget. Aside from everything, you have sued people for the sake of elections, yet you have utilized so much that half of the city could have been covered at a 15 cm height,” the Mayor of Gyumri announced.