Situation connected with Karen Andreasyan's resignation showed that ombudsperson in Armenia has defeated the authorities with a score 3:0, Larisa Alaverdyan, the first ombudsperson of Armenia, told ArmInfo on February 2.
The expert said that every time the authorities nominate an "appropriate for them" human rights defender, but miscount, as the situation with human rights in the country make Ombudspersons voice the accumulated problems, which does not meet the government's plans. "This leads to resignation and political persecutions and as ombudsperson I experienced such difficulties too. The problem is not the Ombudsperson's institution, but the government's attitude to it," she said. Alaverdyan said it is necessary to change the procedure of nominating the candidates for the post of Ombudsperson. On Feb 1, the Parliament of Armenia accepted Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan's notice to terminate. The new ombudsman will be elected through secret voting in the parliament within a month.
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.