I don’t know if people calling on citizens to not wear face masks and citing constitutional rights realize the damage they are causing to the state by doing that. This is what deputy of the My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Tatevik Hayrapetyan stated during parliamentary briefings today.

When told that the release of photos by the Prime Minister on Facebook is a gross violation of human rights and psychological pressure, she stated the following: “The Prime Minister’s posts show that when the government sets rules and people don’t follow them and then complain about the numbers of coronavirus cases, they are violating the rules. No matter how vigilant police officers are, people need to understand what they’re doing and follow the rules. If those photos can serve as a kind of tool to exert pressure on the public, posting them is justified from the perspective of public health.”

Deputy of the My Step faction Gayane Abrahamyan also touched upon the issue and stated the following: “First, this is an act to raise public awareness and a call to mobilize the public. The Prime Minister had initially stated that he is doing this to set the record straight and see the violations that are being committed. We are in a situation where the police can’t work alone. There can’t be police officers in every yard. Our citizens are aware of their rights, if they are not misled,” she said, adding that posting the photos is not a personal data breach.