Manvel Sargsyan: Everyone should learn that such judgments are  impermissible 

ArmInfo. Without a lawyer, I intend to personally take part in the court hearings on the suit initiated by Arayik Harutyunyan. Director of the Armenian Center for  National and Strategic Studies Manvel Sargsyan told ArmInfo.

According to the analyst, there are big disagreements on the issue of  authority and competence of Artsakh courts to conduct proceedings  against Armenian citizens. In addition, it is noticeable that this  circumstance is deftly used by those in power for not entirely  conscientious purposes.

"Therefore, it is reasonable that everyone knows about all the  iniquities that are committed in my respect.  In the end, all this  concerns not only me. Any Armenian citizen may face such illegal  processes. A situation when a citizen of one country is a defendant  before the court of another country is absurd and illegal.  Suppose  someone doesn't like what a Georgian citizen said at a seminar in  Tbilisi, should he be sent to another country and be judged there?,  "the analyst asked a rhetorical question.

On March 25, the incumbent president of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan,  filed a lawsuit in the Artsakh court against Manvel Sargsyan. The  reason for the lawsuit was the statements made by the latter in  December last year at the Yerevan seminar. The essence of the  statements came down to accusing Harutyunyan of robbery, distributing  actual election bribes at Artsakh weddings and funerals. Artsakh  President demands from Sargsyan a refutation of his own words,  apologies and reimbursement of his legal expenses.

The Artsakh court of first instance did not accept Harutyunyan's  complaint, substantiating that the lawsuit was addressed to a citizen  of another country. On April 3,  Harutyunyan's representative  appealed to the Artsakh Court of Appeal. The latter examined and  accepted the case on April 16, when Harutyunyan already became  President of Artsakh. On April 22, the Court of Appeal quashed the  decision of the court of first instance. The preliminary hearing of  the case in the Artsakh Court of first instance is scheduled for July  3.

According to the analyst, such a court dispute is notable in itself  and reflects the legal discord mentioned by him in relations between  the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh. Moreover, according to him,  Sargsyan learned of all these inter-judicial vicissitudes only on  June 4, when it was already too late to protest the decision of the  Artsakh Court of Appeal by law. This happened because all the  documents were sent to the address of his apartment in Yerevan.  Meanwhile, Sargsyan was absent and a month later all letters returned  to Artsakh. In this regard, the analyst is preparing a complaint to  the Artsakh Supreme Court. Sargsyan is convinced of the violation of  his rights, since he was not informed in time about the lawsuit or  the decision of the courts of two instances.

"I am convinced that Harutyunyan was so insulted by my support of his  rival Masis Mayilyan in the recent election rather than by the  accusations against him. In any case, there is a lot of indirect  evidence that this is the case. In fact, I, like any normal  specialist, am not interested in personalities. I'm interested in the  political situation in Artsakh in general. Based on my own research,  I wrote 6 analytical articles on the topic of the presidential and  parliamentary elections in Artsakh, " Sargsyan concluded.