Tweet
Re: Western-financed Armenian "human rights activists" (and their anti-Armenian polic
Very good find londontsi. They even openly state that one has to lobby for the United Kingdom. In every country, also in Armenia, dozens of people attracted by the money will accept to be brainwashed and to work against the interest of the Armenian state.
They are a disgrace for real human rights activists. It's easy to see who are the biased ones, just look as to who funds them, if it's a foreign source, mostly it is because of a reason.
We should not forget that there are thousands of human rights activists in Armenia not funded by foreign countries who really care about human rights, and not about attacking important Armenian institutions to weaken our society and unity.
Just as democracy, the word "human rights" has been kidnapped by the West and used as a effective tool for leverage.
Very good find londontsi. They even openly state that one has to lobby for the United Kingdom. In every country, also in Armenia, dozens of people attracted by the money will accept to be brainwashed and to work against the interest of the Armenian state.
They are a disgrace for real human rights activists. It's easy to see who are the biased ones, just look as to who funds them, if it's a foreign source, mostly it is because of a reason.
We should not forget that there are thousands of human rights activists in Armenia not funded by foreign countries who really care about human rights, and not about attacking important Armenian institutions to weaken our society and unity.
Just as democracy, the word "human rights" has been kidnapped by the West and used as a effective tool for leverage.
Fighting Words: HCA files slander suit against former MOD deputy minister
Artur Sakunts (left), Vladimir Gasparyan
The war of words over the non-combat death cases in the Armenian army between NGOs and the Ministry of Defense has entered battle in court. Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office filed a law suit against former deputy defense minister, currently chief of police Vladimir Gasparyan, demanding compensation for “damage to honor, dignity and business reputation”.
As opposed to a recent trend of authorities and businessmen demanding millions in drams against news outlets for “slander and insult”, human rights activist Artur Sakunts, leading Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCA), demands only 20 drams (about 5 cents) from Gasparyan -10 drams for damage to the fame of his organization and another 10 to the mothers who have lost their sons in the army and protest in front the government building every Thursday.
In October, when three soldiers died within five days in non-combat conditions, NGOs and “Army in Reality” initiative group, held a series of large-scale protests in front of the government building, the Prosecutor General’s office, and the presidential residence. The protests were followed by a report on Public TV disparaging Sakunts and Levon Baghdasaryan, president of Gyumri-based Asparez press club, and concluded by interviews with Gasparyan.
Sakunts’s complaint is based on two Gasparyan interviews; one to Zinuzh (“military force”) TV program, the other to Hraparak daily, which HCA Vanadzor office found insulting and containing slander. In Hraparak daily’s October 17 article titled “Who guzzles blood, let it turn against his child” Gasparyan, referring to the wave of protests against the death cases in the army, said that he could see “impertinence” in the organizers.
In the newspaper interview Gasparyan referred to the Helsinki Organization members as “wimpy brats”.
In his interview to Zinuzh, Gasparyan said: “How can a person’s heart ache for his country when s/he receives funding and salary from other countries. How can a person’s heart ache when s/he thinks: the louder and the more controversial the case, the better, because in that case we can make even more money. Those doing it are some creatures with no motherland, no land, no grace, only wanting to be subservient to others, bondsmen, with no sense of dignity.”
Sakunts told ArmeniaNow that the court has not yet processed the complaint and usually does that within three working days. To ArmeniaNow’s question whether the court might refuse to start judicial proceedings, considering the fact that Gasparyan in his interviews did not mention names, Sakunts said that the court only takes into account whether the suit is filed properly or not.
Ashot Melikyan, chairing the Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech, told ArmeniaNow that “it is obvious and quite clear” that Gasparyan’s words were addressed to Sakunts, especially that the interviews followed the Public TV’s ill-famed reportage by Haylur [news wire]”.
Melikyan thinks positively of the lawsuit in a sense that media representatives are not involved in this case.
“This suit seems quite normal to me, when two sides have private reckonings with each other related to slander or insult, and media is not drawn into it,” says Melikyan.
Artur Sakunts (left), Vladimir Gasparyan
The war of words over the non-combat death cases in the Armenian army between NGOs and the Ministry of Defense has entered battle in court. Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office filed a law suit against former deputy defense minister, currently chief of police Vladimir Gasparyan, demanding compensation for “damage to honor, dignity and business reputation”.
As opposed to a recent trend of authorities and businessmen demanding millions in drams against news outlets for “slander and insult”, human rights activist Artur Sakunts, leading Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCA), demands only 20 drams (about 5 cents) from Gasparyan -10 drams for damage to the fame of his organization and another 10 to the mothers who have lost their sons in the army and protest in front the government building every Thursday.
In October, when three soldiers died within five days in non-combat conditions, NGOs and “Army in Reality” initiative group, held a series of large-scale protests in front of the government building, the Prosecutor General’s office, and the presidential residence. The protests were followed by a report on Public TV disparaging Sakunts and Levon Baghdasaryan, president of Gyumri-based Asparez press club, and concluded by interviews with Gasparyan.
Sakunts’s complaint is based on two Gasparyan interviews; one to Zinuzh (“military force”) TV program, the other to Hraparak daily, which HCA Vanadzor office found insulting and containing slander. In Hraparak daily’s October 17 article titled “Who guzzles blood, let it turn against his child” Gasparyan, referring to the wave of protests against the death cases in the army, said that he could see “impertinence” in the organizers.
In the newspaper interview Gasparyan referred to the Helsinki Organization members as “wimpy brats”.
In his interview to Zinuzh, Gasparyan said: “How can a person’s heart ache for his country when s/he receives funding and salary from other countries. How can a person’s heart ache when s/he thinks: the louder and the more controversial the case, the better, because in that case we can make even more money. Those doing it are some creatures with no motherland, no land, no grace, only wanting to be subservient to others, bondsmen, with no sense of dignity.”
Sakunts told ArmeniaNow that the court has not yet processed the complaint and usually does that within three working days. To ArmeniaNow’s question whether the court might refuse to start judicial proceedings, considering the fact that Gasparyan in his interviews did not mention names, Sakunts said that the court only takes into account whether the suit is filed properly or not.
Ashot Melikyan, chairing the Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech, told ArmeniaNow that “it is obvious and quite clear” that Gasparyan’s words were addressed to Sakunts, especially that the interviews followed the Public TV’s ill-famed reportage by Haylur [news wire]”.
Melikyan thinks positively of the lawsuit in a sense that media representatives are not involved in this case.
“This suit seems quite normal to me, when two sides have private reckonings with each other related to slander or insult, and media is not drawn into it,” says Melikyan.
Comment