Wednesday, April 10 2019 09:26

ArmInfo. The "Prosperous Armenia" faction should decide on the conformity of the post of chairman of the commission for the protection of human rights to  Naira Zohrabyan. Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol  Pashinyan said this on April 9 in an interview with journalists,  commenting on the scandal in parliament related to the speech at the  transgender hearing Lilit Martirosyan.

To note, last Friday, during the hearings in the Armenian parliament  on the topic "National Agenda of Human Rights", transgender Lilit  Martirosyan understood the issue of protecting the rights of the LGBT  community from the rostrum of the National Assembly. According to  her, representatives of the community are subjected to persecution,  humiliation and violence, which caused outrage at the head of the  Commission on Human Rights, member of the PAP, Naira Zohrabyan. She  asked the transgender to leave the room because the latter had  violated the hearing agenda. The deputy also said that he knows which  of the deputies organized this "show" by inviting a transgender  person, hinting at a member of the My Step bloc Maria Karapetyan.  Meanwhile, Karapetyan refuted this statement, saying that the list of  participants of the hearings was in Zohrabyan herself. She also  accused Zohrabyan of lying: "She lies when she says that there was a  certain agenda for the hearings."

Today Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed with the statement of  Maria Karapetyan. According to him, he received a copy of the list of  invited persons, under which the name of Naira Zohrabyan appears.  "This is a well-organized provocation directed against My Step bloc  and the government of the country," the RA Prime Minister stated,  adding that the behavior of Naira Zohrabyan questions the issue of  human rights in Armenia. "The Prosperous Armenia Party should decide  whether the deputy from the faction Naira Zohrabyan meets the minimum  criteria of the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights," the  Prime Minister emphasized.

He also expressed outrage at the position of some representatives of  the former ruling Republican Party, which raises questions about the  processes taking place in the country. Nikol Pashinyan recalled that  in 2015, representatives of the previous government, taking the  passport in the name of Vagharshak Martirosyan, gave the same person  a passport in the name of Lilit Martirosyan, indicating that in this  case it is a male person. "Where do you find a male person named  Lilit?" - asked the Prime Minister, adding that the former  authorities had provided the so-called "Lilit" with all their rights  and obligations, including the right to vote during the elections, by  their actions. "Everyone, without exception. I have always said that  they (RPA - Ed. note) Are gay activists, although they themselves  denied it, but today they are making a complaint to us," the head of  government said.

To recall, on the eve of the morning, opposite to the Armenian  parliament, a protest rally was held in defense of national values.  As one of the organizers of the action, coordinator of the Kamq(will,  Ed. note) initiative Vahagn Chakhalyan, noted, the rally participants  are outraged that the transgender spoke from the podium of the  National Assembly of Armenia. He stressed that the protesters want to  understand who allowed the transgender to get into parliament, and on  what basis. Commenting on the situation, the leader of the Prosperous  Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, in an interview with journalists,  pointed out the unacceptability of this fact. "We will not allow it  to spread or gain legal force," Gagik Tsarukyan noted.  In turn,  human rights organizations declared their intention to hold actions  in support of Lilit Martirosyan and go to court against Naira  Zohrabyan. The activists, preaching national values, decided to hold  a rally in support of Zohrabyan and against Martirosyan.

To recall, on April 5, Lilit Martirosyan, a transgender woman, spoke  for the first time in the National Assembly of Armenia: "I am a  transgender woman, and I am pleased that in post-revolutionary  Armenia I was given the opportunity to speak from the rostrum of the  National Assembly. Please regard me as a collective image of  tortured, raped, subjected physically assaulted, burned, stabbed,  killed, emigrated, discriminated, poor and unemployed transgender  people. "