Opposition alliance suspends participation in international organizations

YEREVAN, December 7. /ARKA/. The opposition Hayastan (Armenia) alliance in the Armenian parliament announced today the suspension of its participation in international events as part of Armenian parliamentary delegations.

"Parliamentary delegations of the National Assembly formed in August, also include MPs of the Hayastan alliance. To this day, in fact, opposition deputies have not participated in any activities. The reason is the blatantly illegal arrests of our fellow MPs as well as the illegal restrictions on the movements of other MPs, including those who are members of the parliamentary delegations," reads the statement of the Hayastan alliance.

Pointing out that the constitutional activities of the MPs are actually obstructed, the statement notes that each of these actions against them has an exclusively political component and is devoid of any legal basis.

"This is an unprecedented situation for a member country of the Council of Europe, which shows that Armenia is no longer a democratic legal state. Under such circumstances, the Hayastan alliance declares that it suspends its participation in all international events and will not participate in meetings held outside of Armenia until all bans and restrictions applied to MPs of the alliance are removed. All relevant international organizations will also be informed of this decision," the statement says.

At present, former director of Izmirlian medical center Armen Charchyan, former mayor of Meghri Mkhitar Zakaryan and former head of Sisian community Artur Sarkisyan elected to the parliament on Hayastan’s ticket are under arrest. -0-