I wouldn't agree with your impression because all Armenian, all citizens of Armenia thee see and they are living in a democratic country. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated this in an interview with the BBC's HARDtalk program, answering the question that many Armenians today think that the hopes for change in the country have not been met.
“In 2019, we had the biggest economic growth in Europe, and we had big economic success and our country made tremendous progress in all international ratings in terms of democracy, freedom of speech, independent judiciary anticorruption policy and international magazines, two years in a row recognized Armenia as a country of the year. Like not only in terms of democracy but in terms of economy as well. Yes, of course, the pandemic situation interrupted our fly, but we will continue,” Pashinyan added.
Commenting on the criticism of the government in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, Pashinyan said that, “Armenia is a democratic country and opposition is free to express himself. And I'm, I'm very glad that now opposition in Armenia is acting much easier than before then, before the revolution.”
The host of the program recalled that the Human Rights Watch report on Armenia country in 2020 has concluded that investigations into past violence and excessive use of force by law enforcement remain very limited. “Violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination against and segregation of people with disabilities. All of these things persist in Armenia today,” he added.
In response, Pashinyan said: “Freedom house - renowned organization - announced in its report that Armenia made biggest two years progress in democracy, rule of law, human rights, protection ever within view all existence of that kind of report. FH - internationally recognized organization - said that Armenia made the biggest progress ever within two years.”
When asked, “There are people inside your country who fear that your agenda right now, isn't so much about, rooting out corruption as hitting back at some of your political enemies. In particular, the decision you've taken to suspend three judges on the constitutional court who were blocking investigations into ex-president Kocharyan. That looks politically motivated is that what's driving you right now?” the Armenian PM responded as follows: “As far as the constitutional court is concerned, I should stress that we tried to have constitutional court fully compliant with our constitution because we had a description of the constitutional court in our constitution, but we had totally different constitutional court in reality. So we are going and we are doing that to have constitutional court fully compliant with our constitution.
As far as criminal cases are concerned, I should stress that we have courts, we have investigation bodies and we have prosecutor offices. And it isn't me to decide who should be detained and who should be released. Our purpose is the rule of law, independent judiciary, and anti-corruption policy. And the international community recognized our huge success in all those areas.”
