RA Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan is going to announce his resignation, as he is to be appointed Representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Central Asia. Harutyunyan got indignant at NEWS.am’s question concerning the reason for his unwillingness to continue as RA Ombudsman. “Your statement of the question is wrong. Not that I do not want to continue as Ombudsman. Rather, I want to hold a different post,” he said. Harutyunyan said that refusing such an offer would be “a pathology” as one gets such a chance “once in a century.”

Harutyunyan said that at his forthcoming press conference he will explain his new work.

Before taking office he plans to release his annual report on the human rights situation in Armenia in 2010, as well as a special report.

As to eligible candidates for the post of RA Ombudsman, Harutyunyan said: “How can I say? I can say we are leaving a professional staff to the next Ombudsman.”

Armen Harutyunyan was appointed RA Ombudsman on December 20, 2006, for six years.