It was a slap to the face of 131 lawmakers: Opposition factions threaten to boycott special session

Hardly had the special session of the Armenian National Assembly   started when it was interrupted by 20 minutes. “Considering the lawlessness in the country and the recent series of attacks on Karabakh war veterans and our colleague Aram Manukyan, we suggest discontinuing the special session which is to discuss a number of loan agreements that do not inspire confidence in us. We also suggest convening a special sitting to discuss the recent occurrences in the country, otherwise the BHK will boycott this session,” Naira Zohrabyan, Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) parliamentary faction, said at the beginning of the meeting. Ruben Hakobyan, Head of the Heritage faction, expressed support for the move.   “It is natural that people are waiting to see legislature’s response to the incidents. First, we should consider the incidents inside the country. We shall also boycott the session if the National Assembly refuses to discuss the recent violence,” he said. Heghine Bisharyan, Head of the Country of Law (OEK) faction, said the assaults had a serious negative impact on each citizen. “We should bow our heads before Karabakh war veterans and the attack on lawmaker Aram Manukyan was a slap to the face of 131 lawmakers. We also demand to stop the special session and convene an extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly. If we do not condemn this atmosphere of impunity, we shall continue to witness similar unpleasant incidents in the future,” she said adding that her party will also boycott the session. A similar opinion was expressed by Armen Rustamyan, who heads the parliamentary group of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun. After the statements, NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan was forces to discontinue the session and invite a consultation with the heads of parliamentary factions.