Former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia Movses Hakobyan today told reporters that even though the Prime Minister has the right to dismiss the chief of the General Staff, the question is what the grounds for dismissal are.

“If Onik Gasparyan is a criminal, a criminal case has to be launched. If he isn’t doing his job well, there has to be evidence. If he has made a political statement, a criminal case needs to be launched. The authorities don’t do this, but dismiss him. Moreover, Onik Gasparyan can also be dismissed through a disciplinary penalty, but there has to be an official investigation into this, and there hasn’t been an official investigation,” he said and noted that servicemen are guided by the internal service rulebook which states that if the laws of the military contradict each other, the internal service rulebook overrides the other laws. “If servicemen file an appeal stating that the law against Onik Gasparyan was applied illegally, the law won’t have regressive force,” he added.

Talking about the appointment of Artak Davtyan to the position of Chief of the General Staff, Hakobyan recalled that he wouldn’t like to see Davtyan appointed to the position that much.

“I said it once that I get the impression that the authorities appointed Artak Davtyan to prove that the army isn’t destroyed after the 44-day war and that they appointed him in order to completely destroy the army,” he added.