Mane Tandilyan: Arrest should be used as exceptional legal measure,  not as tool of political pressure

ArmInfo.  "Our country, before our eyes, with our tacit consent, has turned into a dictatorship," Mane Tandilyan, co-founder of the "Country for Life" party, wrote on  her Facebook page.

According to her, the arrest of Aregnaz Manukyan is yet another  manifestation of political persecution.  "Unfortunately, it's  pointless to expect fair and logical decisions from our judicial  system. They showed no mercy, arresting an activist and her minor  child on charges whose justification, to put it mildly, is  incomprehensible. Why is the harshest preventive measure being  applied when a person is not evading investigation? Arrest should be  used as an exceptional legal measure, not as a tool of political  pressure," the politician noted.

She called on the country's citizens not to tolerate all of this. "We  cannot, you understand, we cannot silently watch the continuous  undermining of the independence of the judicial system. If any  dissent can lead to criminal prosecution, then serious questions  arise about the state of democracy and the rule of law in our  country. The people must overcome this chaotic reality and establish  democratic order in the country.  We will all pay equally for the  alternative," Mane Tandilyan noted.

As a reminder, the court yesterday sentenced Aregnaz Manukyan to two  months of pretrial detention.  According to the Investigative  Committee, a public criminal prosecution has been initiated against  Aregnaz Manukyan under Part 1 of Article 427 of the Criminal Code  (disclosure of information containing a state secret). The  investigation was conducted as part of a criminal case of espionage  and treason, in which Andranik Tevanyan, leader of the Mother Armenia  party, was previously arrested. Manukyan is suspected of passing  classified information regarding the Armenian Armed Forces to  Tevanyan, which was presented at a closed parliamentary meeting.