Today, the deadline for submitting applications for the position of Human Rights Defender to the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the RA NA. There are three candidates nominated for this post at the moment; advocate Makar Yeghiazaryan from “Prosperous Armenia” Party; Arman Tatoyan, the RA Deputy Minister of Justice, from the Republican Party of Armenia; and Zaruhi Postanjyan, nominated by a group of MP’s.
In the interview with Iravaban.net, advocate Tigran Safaryan said that he does not know Makar Yeghiazaryan, but he knows the other two candidates and expressed his opinion about them. “Arman Tatoyan is a good specialist and a good lawyer. I cannot describe him in a negative way as a person but still I see a problem in combining a responsible position in the government and the effectiveness of work as HRD. Also, considering the fact of considerable pressure against the previous Defender by the majority of the people who appointed him. Even though Tatoyan said he would be independent, yet it does not sound convincing. Taking into account the charisma, experience and open-mindedness, I believe Zaruhi Postanjyan is the proper candidate. We need such candidate.”
To the question whether it was reasonable that the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the RA NA shall select one of the candidates and then submit the candidacy to the vote of the National Assembly, the advocate said, “The explanation why Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs should submit the candidacy to voting in case when the NA has a Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs.” Then he added that in this case probably political methodology was applied taking into account the majority and minority representation of the RPA in the Committes.
