Recently, the case of a woman killed by her partner in Gyumri shocked society with its cruelty. However, there were those, who justified the violence and re-victimized the victim, among whom, unfortunately, were public persons.
One of them was Ashot Mirzoyan, the member of the Committee on Environmental Issues of the Public Council, who not only clearly justified this horrible violence in his Facebook post but also voiced personal insults to the murdered woman.
This kind of post was followed by the tough reaction of the people on the Internet, as well as the condemning statement of the Public Council. However, only the fact that people with such human rights awareness are members of the Public Council and they publish opinions and approaches on key public issues, is already a matter of deep concern.
The Coalition to stop violence against women strongly condemns any hatred against women, any tendency to re-victimize the victim, and demand.
- To discuss the issue of Ashot Mirzoyan’s membership in this structure at the upcoming session of the Public Council
- To organize the open session, in order the public can see and hear all the opinions, which will give an opportunity to create an opinion about the ideas of the other members of the Public Council.
In our deepest conviction, those who share similar opinions should leave the Public Council immediately, and from now on, the public important issues should be discussed only with the participation of people who have at least an understanding of human rights.