On Thursday (February 25) at a press conference, the Armenian ombudsman, speaking about the recent violations of constitutional rights in Armenia, said that if the current situation continues, then “in 15-20 years the Republic of Armenia will change into Reservation of Armenia.”

Armen Harutyunyan, mainly speaking about a number of facts and quite controversial cases in Armenia (price hike in gas tariffs; businessman Saribek Sukiasyan’s arrest; temporary detention of shop assistants of the gold trading market on Wednesday, etc.), said that the Constitution of Armenia, having statements about human dignity, with each passing day more and more diverges from the reality of Armenia.

“Maybe I exaggerate a little bit, but if it continues this way, we will speak not about the Constitution of Armenia, but rather about the inner rules of the reservation of Armenia, where some would be ‘watching over’ the reservation and the rest would be their servants,” the ombudsman says.

Harutyunyan especially criticized the hike in gas tariffs, saying that the current situation is connected with the existence of monopolistic economy in Armenia. Harutyunyan believes that the hike in gas tariffs will threaten not only the small but also medium businesses.

“Currently the representatives of medium businesses have also turned to the ombudsman with their appeals,” Harutyunyan says.

Speaking about the recent reforms in the European Court enabling it to receive appeals faster and more efficiently, as well as to oversee the implementation of European Court verdicts by states, the Ombudsman, without mentioning exact figures, stated that Armenia is by far not a top implementer of verdicts of the European Court.

It is noteworthy that in 2009, the European Court brought in nine guilty verdicts related to citizens of Armenia, and one verdict ruling that no violation of human rights was committed against an Armenian citizen.

Harutyunyan stated that last year citizens of Armenia submitted about 5,000 appeals to the Ombudsman’s office; and as for the annual report for 2009, Harutyunyan will present it in the upcoming days.