Mikayel Minasyan: Serzh Sargsyan will be arrested soon 'in an attempt to distract public from real problems' – News.am

News.am has interviewed Mikayel Minasyan, a former Armenian ambassador to the Holy See.

Mr. Minasyan, your yesterday's post on Facebook attracted a wide reaction. A very superficial remark you made, however, has given rise to real questions.  You mentioned 'arrested former presidents' instead of 'a president'. Did you mean Serzh Sargsyan? Do you think he will be arrested too?

Definitely. Criminal charges and arrest is what characterizes the entire logic behind the actions of the current government. An essential part of the state resources today is wasted upon criminal charges and arrests. But the problem is that it no longer works. After the first five, 10, 15 and 20 arrests, the society's fervent reaction has toned down a little bit as it does not change the public sentiments to become an agenda. In just a couple of days' time, this kind of steps will provoke only scornful attitudes. Make no doubt about that; given especially that the general impression is that of a transaction containing corruption risks.

It is due to their own unreasoned steps that these authorities have created three very complicated problems for themselves, which they now have to resolve: Amulsar [mine], Istanbul Convention and developments around Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]. And the total failure to work - both by the executive and the legislative - has added to this. As a result, the wave of public discontent is on the verge of spiraling out of control. And that's visible to the authorities now. Knowing the current authorities' primitive logic well enough, one can easily predict that instead of searching for solutions they will opt for their favorite practice of arrests in order to distract public attention.

The authorities have one 'gold reserve' - archived and planned long ago, i.e. - the mega-arrest, the arrest of Serzh Sargsyan. The authorities' media trumpets have been long heralding the fact. A simple calculation prompts that Serzh Sargsyan will be arrested soon in an attempt to distract the public from real problems for a little bit more.

Moreover, the authorities' fear of the aftermaths of the said problems is so big indeed that they will not, in all likelihood, be satisfied with Serzh Sargsyan's arrest alone. They will invent something new to target one or even several generals. And I do not rule out the possibility of joining their ranks.

Not a very far-sighted leak by the foreign media recently came to hint a plan for arresting Major-General Samvel Karapetyan, one of our heroes. It isn't absolutely hard to predict why they need it; obviously, that's an attempt to silence the military elite.

Do you think Serzh Sargsyan is aware of the scenario and the possible developments, and is he prepared for that?

He is always prepared for any turn of events. Serzh Sargsyan will be arrested, thus rendering yet another big service to his people. He will be put behind bars to evoke eventually the universal understanding that ‟revolution″ minus arrests yields practically a zero outcome. The population's living standards do not change, with no investments increasing or jobs being created or life becoming better and safer. On the contrary, everything changes for the worse. Serzh Sargsyan will prove that with his own example, awakening, as soon as possible, the sober mind. By arresting him, the authorities will exhaust both the effectiveness and chances of using represssions as a tool.

It stands to reason from now on that the power transition was but the primitive fight for the throne ... The true image of the thief and plunderer, the disgraceful liar and proofless intriguer and moreover - the talentless unfortunate figure will be revealed to the public soon. It is the irony of fate, perhaps, that these authorities cannot possibly do anything without those figures created by themselves. Even without any hostility towards them, these authorities have no value at all; without their fight against  the shadow, these authorities have nothing to say or do.  

You dropped a hint that a legal action is going to be filed against you too. Do you think you will really face a criminal proceeding?

Unequivocally. One of the first tasks after the new government's formation dealt, practically, with inspections in the companies owned by me and people associated with me. They inspected absolutely everything, anything that could possibly date back to any time. They haven't succeeded [in finding illicit evidence] so far. But that doesn't mean they have stopped the searches ....

Instituting a criminal case after one and half year's failure to find anything at all would signify a directly instructed political order. It is highly predictable and vulnerable, and life will put everything in its place. The incimbent authorities are crossing all the boundaries, forgetting about the fact that we all are going to live under the same sky and that nothing – especially power - is everlasting. That's the key point that will soon impose sobriety upon everyone. Time has come to break down all the myths.