Vazgen Manukyan: Armenia has become a theater of one actor, there are  no counterbalances to power in the country, opposition and press

ArmInfo.The chairman of the National Democratic Union party, Vazgen Manukyan, does not agree with the accusations brought against Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan and the CSTO secretary general Yury Khachaturov, and considers them unfounded. This was reported in his statement on the investigation of the March 1 case and the arrest of the second  Armenian President Robert Kocharyan.

As Vazgen Manukyan says in his statement, he is worried that Armenia  has turned into "one actor's theater", there are no counterbalances  to the authorities, opposition, and the press in the country. "Our  party and personally I, in the decade of Robert Kocharyan's  presidency, were in tough opposition, accused the authorities in many  respects, opposed many decisions, but I do not agree and consider the  charges brought against Robert Kocharyan and Yuri Khachaturov  unreasonable.

Groundless accusations have been made against people who played an  invaluable role in the largest military victory of our people in  recent centuries, "he said.

Analyzing the events of March 1, 2008, comparing them with the  presidential elections of 1996 and 2003, Manukyan concludes that the  evidence base of the opposition on the falsifications during the  elections in 2008 was very weak. In the meantime, Levon Ter-Petrosyan  announced his victory and "tried by all means to implement his  constitutional demand," which provoked discontent among the people,  who were already unhappy with the authorities and the permanent  rallies began, and the authorities tried to disperse them.

This situation, according to Vazgen Manukyan, is standard for our  country, but it unexpectedly went into an unconventional one and got  out of control. There were casualties on both sides, both among the  demonstrators and among the enforcers. In this situation, he  believes, either it is necessary to evaluate both sides, or to  recognize that there is a third party that is trying to aggravate the  situation. "We need to find out who started shooting first who gave  the order and, I think, perhaps, many unexpected facts will come to  light," he wrote. At the same time, he notes the people's desire to  find out the truth, but advises to do it legally - not pursuing  political goals and not implementing vendetta. Vazgen Manukyan  expresses his fears that Armenia has become a theater of one actor,  there are no counterbalances to the authorities, opposition, and the  press in the country. "It seems that everyone is frightened and  waiting ... This road leads us to the 37th year, to war and isolation  in the international arena," he concluded.

On July 28 the first instance court of Shengavit district of Yerevan  granted the request of the Special Investigation Service of Armenia  about the election of arrest as a preventive measure against the  second President Robert Kocharyan for a period of 2 months for the  overthrow of the constitutional order in the criminal case on  dispersal protest actions on March 1, 2008.