“The Public Board is Trying to Create an Illusion of Good Work by the MoD.” Artur Sakunts

According to human rights activist, Artur Sakuts, the Public Council under the MoD was created to save the ministry’s face and to create an illusion of civil participation.  The President of the PB, Gegham Harutyunyan, proved this with the statements he made today during the meeting with reporters.

Harutyunyan declared that the human rights activists are condemning the army while in reality the number of murders in the army has decreased.

“First of all, the minister of defense himself stated in his September report, that there is an increase in the cases of violation of statutory relations. This means that we learn only about cases of death whereas the number of violations is much higher. Quoting “the statistics,” Gegham Harutyunyan actually contradicts the words of his supervisor, the minister. He should have read the minister’s report first. By keeping the public in the dark,the Public Board is trying to create an illusion that they are working well, that the number of deaths has decreased, which means they are being effective. However.there should not be a single death resulting from non-statutory relations. This declaration is inept,” says Sakunts.  

During today’s press conference, Gegham Harutyunyan also expressed his indignation that the human rights activists were meddling with the society-army relations. According to him, the activists are prompting the parents to present complaints and to protect their rights.

“Suggesting a citizen to come forward and complain is helping him to protect his rights while blaming someone for that action is nothing but concealing a crime. By blaming those who point out and criticize the problems in the army, they are discrediting the army because they are concealing its faults,’ says Artur Sakunts.

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