Zaruhi Postanjyan submits a draft statement on people`s right to rebellion for consideration of National Assembly 

ArmInfo. Head of the Heritage Party Faction Zaruhi Postanjyan has submitted a draft statement on people's right to rebellion for the consideration of the Armenian National Assembly.

In particular, the document reads: "People are the only source of power and the power in the Republic of Armenia belongs to people. People exercise their power via free elections, referenda, as well as through the state structures, local administrations and officials stipulated by the Constitution. Throughout the contemporary history of Armenia, this provision of law has been inaccessible to the citizens of the present- day republic. In Armenia, the institutions of social and public administration, which are meant to exercise public authority, namely the President, the Government, the National Assembly have not been formed through free elections and they do not operate under the legal authority of officials. The judicial power has not been formed legitimately either. Therefore, they do not serve the people".

The draft statement says that power usurpation by any organization or personality is a crime. This provision of the law is also violated in Armenia. "Power usurpation was exercised by Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan and the political organizations serving them. The current system is a new manifestation of the changed Soviet totalitarian political regime and policy that runs counter to the goals and interests of Armenian people," the text says, noting that when the government becomes destructive, people have the right to change or dissolve it, liquidate it and create a new government, which will ensure the people's safe and happy life. 

The document recalls that Armenian people provided neither Levon Ter-Petrosyan nor Robert Kocharyan or Serzh Sargsyan with legal powers. "They usurped the power. In their fight against the usurpers, people used and exhausted all the possible methods and resorted to the last method, which is the exercise of their right to rebellion. After the April war of 2016, each person in Armenia has an obligation to resist any order, which will harm the people's rights and freedoms and their guarantees, as well as the right to use force to prevent aggression," the draft statement says, noting that the Armenian society has to rebel to destroy the political system, which does not meet its interests and goals.

The draft statement declares that the peculiarities of resistance and rebellion in 2016 are the national liberation and nationwide goals - the fight against colonialism, restoration of territorial integrity and formation of democracy and constitutionality of the political system. The document notes that the rebellion and resistance of 2016 announce liquidation of external dependence and formation of an independent and unified Armenian state. "Rebellion demands creation of independent Armenian statehood according to the principles of national sovereignty, democracy and republicanism. The legal system provides for a guarantee against tyranny, power usurpation and change of the constitutional order without the people's consent. This guarantee is the people's right to rebellion. Thus, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia expresses its solidarity with the demands of the rebellion of Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sassoon), condemns the persecution against the participants of Sasna Tsrer's rebellion, demands immediate release of all prisoners of conscience and termination of criminal prosecution against them", says the text.

The authors of the document say that the draft statement is based on the contemporary principles and standards of international law reflected in a number of international legal documents in the field of human rights. The right of people to rebellion as a natural and inalienable right was an achievement of the Enlightenment and it was later reflected in the 1776 US Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen - a significant document of the French Revolution. "The lack of respect for the priority principles of civil society in Armenia, as well as the violence against the fundamental rights and freedoms of an entire nation have led to urgent implementation of the people's right to rebellion", says the document, stressing that "the obligation of the people and their right" is "to dethrone such a government and to ensure new guarantees for achieving security in the future".

On September 8, Zaruhi Postanjyan met with the relatives of Sasna Tsrer group and those persecuted by the authorities for their political views.