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Opposition MP Hayk Mamijanyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), called attention to persecution of opposition activists in Armenia in his speech at the PACE debate on a report about the honoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia on Wednesday. His full statement is provided below.

"Dear colleagues,

Two major facts about this report. On one hand reporters addressed many important aspects of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, ethnic cleansing of Armenians and PoWs. They were on our side during the aggressions of Azerbaijan. For that I am thankful as an Armenian and as an opposition member of Armenian delegation to PACE. It is crucially important for the families of the PoWs, the political and military leadership of Nagorno Karabakh who are held as hostages in Baku prison, and for all Armenians that the CoE uses all possible influence on Azerbaijan to secure their release.

On the other hand, what should I tell the relatives of Armen Ashotyan, Narek Malyan, Mamikon Aslanyan, who have spent more than a year, almost a year and almost 3 years in jail respectively? Should I quote the part about "continuous commitment to democratic development".

What should I tell Yesayi Qaramyan, who had an amputation, the 100 other citizens who suffered various injuries from the stun grenades used by police during the protests on June 12th, 2024? Not 1 or 2, but more than 20 stun grenades. Should I tell them the report was already written and you didn’t have a chance to rewrite it? Would you?

What to tell Narek Samsonyan, Vazgen Saghatelyan, who have spent 2 months in prison just because of a podcast? Or to Zhora Avetisyan and dozens of other political prisoners who have spent weeks and months in jail simply because Nikol Pashinyan wanted it so? Should I explain to them that the geopolitical interests of Europe trump human rights?

What to tell Samvel Vardanyan, whom a group of masked individuals dragged out from the police car, knocked him to the ground, cursed, beat, tortured, humiliated and then threw him back into the car. Should I tell him that European institutions think this is the new normal for the democracies?

The problem is not only the big populist who is turning into a small dictator (I mean Pashinyan) but the fact that you knew all these cases. I, along with other opposition MPs, have sent you and other international institutions dozens of emails, reports.

The only thing I can say: let's wait till Pashinyan overuses his carte blanche for brutality and judicial anarchy for political purposes or until values stop being so flexible. The Armenian people are solid like our stones. We will endure. This too shall pass."