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Senior opposition MP and ARF member Artsvik Minasyan has hailed the Administrative Court decision to allow Mourad Papazian, co-chairman of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), and Masis Abrahamian, head of the Armenian National Committee of the Netherlands, to enter Armenia.

The court ordered the National Security Service (NSS) to lift the entry ban imposed on the two Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) activists on January 22.

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan on Thursday, Minasyan, secretary of the opposition Hayastan faction, recalled that three other Diaspora-based ARF activists – Aslan Aslanian, Njteh Karakavorian and Suneh Abrahamian – had been declared “persona non grata” by the Armenian government, calling the bans politically motivated.

“The widespread human rights violations by the authorities indicate that this process cannot continue any longer. Even the international actors, who flattered and pampered the current leadership to reach their goals, now clearly see the ongoing outright violations of human rights,” Minasyan said.

He believes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government will make every effort to revoke the court order.

“When an Armenian’s rights are trampled and he is denied entry to his homeland at the whim of one person, it requires a solution to the systemic problem. No one can be banned from entering Armenia by Nikol Pashinyan’s order, especially those who are openly critical of the treacherous Armenian government,” he stated, adding the entry ban amounts to persecution.