Zaruhi Postanjyan, the leader of the Heritage Party parliamentary faction is sure that if elected as Ombudsperson, she will brush away her political views and protect human rights of the Armenian citizens appropriately. In response to ArmInfo's question at a news conference, the politician said she is even ready to step down as parliament member and leave her Party, as the law stipulates.
Meantime, Postanjyan said, Arman Tatoyan, the deputy minister of justice, who has been nominate for the post of Ombudsperson by the ruling party, will not cope with his duties if elected. "That person protected the ruling regime at the ECHR. Therefore, now, when it is necessary to operate on the other side of the barricades, he will hardly manage to fulfill his responsibilities properly," she said.
The deadline for nomination of the candidates is February 9. Besides Zaruhi Postanjyan and Arman Tatoyan, the nominees are Narek Aloyan (nominated by Tigran Urikhanyan), and Makar Yeghiazaryan (nominated by Naira Zohrabyan, Leader of Prosperous Armenia Party, with violations of the regulations.
Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon Marukyan, Heritage Party faction that is represented at the Committee by Zaruhi Postanjyan only, and Orinats Yerkir Party faction have expressed their intention to support Postanjyan's candidature. The Armenian National Congress will not nominate anyone, as the party does not want to participate in what it calls farce. Nevertheless, Levon Zurabyan, the head of the ANC faction, says they have nothing against Postanjyan.
Parliament of Armenia received Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan's notice to terminate, on January 13. To note, Karen Andreasyan has rather tense relations with some circles of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). According to the media reports, the reason is the conflict between Andreasyan and the Armenian President's son-in-law, Armenia's Ambassador to Vatican Mikayel Minasyan. This is why the RPA representatives loyal to Mikayel Minasyan ganged up against Karen Andreasyan and harshly criticized the latter's latest report in the Parliament. Experts suppose this was the reason of Andreasyan's resignation. Andreasyan was elected Human Rights Defender of Armenia in March 2011 for 6 years, i.e. he had one more year in his term in office. First Ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdyan also left the post ahead of time.