“For quite some time, the Armenian authorities have been targeting various groups of Artsakh citizens and individuals under the guise of democracy, applying repression and discriminatory treatment against them and using the divisive vocabulary of ‘Armenian vs. Karabakhi,’” read a joint statement issued by four of the five parties represented in Karabakh’s exiled legislature.
They also condemned what they called a smear campaign against the Karabakh Armenians waged by Prime Minister’s Nikol Pashinian’s political allies and other supporters.
The statement was prompted by Friday’s special police raid on Karabakh’s permanent representation in Yerevan during which security forces impounded a car used by Samvel Shahramanian, the exiled president. They broke into the mission’s compound one week after Pashinian accused unnamed Karabakh leaders of encouraging refugees to participate in antigovernment protests in Yerevan and threatened them with serious consequences.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee denied any political motives behind the claims. It said Shahramanian’s limousine was impounded as part of a continuing criminal investigation into his bodyguard and driver.
The Karabakh factions said the police actions “exposed the fact that the current authorities of Armenia have gone beyond the boundaries of both legal and moral values.” They also denounced the June 12 crackdown on demonstrators demanding Pashinian’s resignation, saying that the authorities are ready to violate the Armenian constitution and use “disproportionate force” to cling to power.
The authorities indicted last month the exiled mayors of Stepanakert and two other Karabakh towns who signaled support for the protest movement led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian. One of them is in jail while the two others under house arrest on charges of fraud and forgery denied by them.