Pashinyan starts 'Day of Judgement' in Armenia

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s supporters have started blocking Yerevan courts’ entrances this morning in response to his call.

Pashinyan’s appeal came a day after a court in Yerevan ordered the release of ex-president Robert Kocharyan from pre-trial detention.

Later, Pashinyan joined the protesters. Thanking the protesters, the PM said that he love them and is proud of them. He added that he will say everything in his statement at 11:00 (MSK).

Yesterday, the Prime Minister called on his supporters to rally outside Armenia’s court buildings and to block their entrances on May 20 for "the start of the second and most important phase of the Armenian revolution."

Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan, in turn, issued a statement yesterday evening, calling on all citizens to maintain peace and calmness, and respect Constitution and laws.

He recalled that under the Armenian Constitution, power belongs to people. "Consequently, branches of the Armenian government - legislative, executive and judicial – must reflect the collective will of the people of Armenia and serve their constitutional goals,” Sarkisyan stressed.

The President added that while he is on a business trip abroad, he is in touch with the relevant state bodies, and urged to be sober and tolerant these days.

The writer, journalist, Vesti FM radio station host Armen Gasparyan, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the blocking of courts demonstrates the fact that there will be no legitimate order in Armenia under the new government. "Democratic values, understanding of the right were declared - but it turned out to be just declarations. As soon as the court delivered the verdict, the prime minister immediately came out and said: "It's not what I want, so block the courts, my supporters." Perhaps, Pashinyan does not even understand that such actions demonstrate a very tough domestic political crisis. There's no democracy here, just total lawlessness, which is bad for Armenia," he stressed.

"I recall that the factor of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh has not gone anywhere. It is very strange for the authorities of a belligerent country to do things like this," Armen Gasparyan added.

"It is important that in legal terms the release of Robert Kocharyan  met the standards of a democratic state - he was released on bail. But Pashinyan showed that he doesn’t give a damn about legal procedures, he just needs to leave Kocharyan behind bars," the writer pointed out.

"The main problems of modern Ukraine have begun when they started to destroy justice, and in the absence of a regulated, normal legal system, Ukrainian corruption increased 4.5 times compared to the Yanukovich time. I am afraid that if Mr. Pashinyan moves along this road, he will quickly level his achievements over the past six months and will plunge the country into a very difficult internal political situation, because every next politician, looking at Pashinyan's actions, will think that he also can that. Politics will cease to be a matter of parliament and government. It's scary, because the processes will be out of control, and any subsequent demagogue easily displace the same Pashinyan," Armen Gasparyan concluded.