Edmon Marukyan, head of the Bright Armenia party, expressed hope via his Telegram channel that European officials addressed the state of democracy during talks with Armenia's Prime Minister.
"I hope the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council discussed human rights and democracy in Armenia with the Prime Minister. It is essential these issues be raised within the framework of Armenia’s commitments to the European Union, as the Republic of Armenia must not stray from the democratic path. Although authorities speak of democracy, in practice they have already veered off course," he wrote.
Marukyan emphasized that these concerns must be voiced to prevent Armenian authorities from misleading international partners into believing the country remains strongly democratic while human rights are being violated and the fundamentals of the rule of law are being undermined.
He accused the Armenian government of misrepresenting the domestic situation to international partners, pretending to uphold democratic principles and implementing reforms.
Marukyan stressed that civil institutions and opposition representatives have a duty to objectively present the country’s internal processes.
"In my letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, I did exactly that," he stated.
Marukyan had addressed a letter to von der Leyen and Costa, urging them to raise these concerns in their meeting with Prime Minister Pashinyan. He highlighted that philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan was unlawfully detained for giving an interview, and that Archbishop Mikael Adjapahyan of Shirak was held in the same facility for the same reason. Marukyan also noted that ruling party MPs have begun threatening to shut down opposition parties, specifically mentioning the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).
