YEREVAN, March 15. /ARKA/. The Armenian parliamentary committee on defense and security issues has declined today an opposition motion, drafted by he Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia parties, to lift the martial law.
One of the authors of the bill, MP from the Prosperous Armenia faction Arman Abovyan, recalled that the martial law was introduced after the large-scale military offensive of Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). In hi words, active hostilities were stopped after the signing of the trilateral agreement on November 9, 2020 by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan.
“The martial law, which de jure is still in effect is a serious obstacle for all political processes,” Abovyan said.
The head of the parliamentary committee Andranik Kocharyan, for his part, noted that he does not consider the martial law to be an obstacle to political processes.
“The opposition is holding rallies, two central streets in Yerevan are blocked by the opposition. The only problem is that the blocked streets are a major problem for the citizens who cannot get to their destination in time, including MPs,” Kocharyan said.
Abovyan explained that the restrictions are purely political in nature and do not allow for some legal steps, including the resignation of the prime minister, which is prohibited during martial law.
“The longer the martial law remains in force, the more radical the process become. I do not mean the situation on the street, but the general situation in the country where tension is growing, and in order to mitigate it, it is necessary to find political solutions, which are now limited due to the martial law,” said Abovyan.
An MP from the ruling My Step bloc Armen Khachatryan noted that the right to holding rallies has not been stopped, including the closure of roads and actions of disobedience.
“Many citizens are tired of blocked roads, and there is a demand that the authorities take drastic steps to ensure the natural life of society,” Khachatryan said.
According to Andranik Kocharyan, the martial law is supposed to be canceled in one way or another if a decision is made to hold early parliamentary elections and suggested waiting for the corresponding initiative of the government.
According to him, such an initiative may come from the authorities in the next 7-10 days and, accordingly, the decision to lift martial law will be made immediately. -0-