News - Newspaper: Another ‘slap’ to Armenia PM from the West

Past daily of Armenia writes as follows, in part: [PM] Nikol Pashinyan and his government had not yet digested the Freedom House report that the rating of democratic governance in Armenia in 2023 dropped from 2.50 to 2.25, as well as the same human rights organization's "concern about the increasing reports of police violence in Armenia" when another slap came from the West. The US State Department published its annual report on human rights, stressing that they received credible information about torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by the Armenian government, arbitrary arrests and detentions continued in the country, and there are serious problems with the independence of the judiciary. The US State Department notes that the impunity of old and new cases of law enforcement abuses in Armenia continues. A section has also reached the judicial system. (…). According to the report's authors, investigative journalists regularly report on problems in the government procurement system (…). In short, after 2018, it is unprecedented for the West to slap its "child" like this. The fact that the reports of Freedom House and the State Department present only a small part of the disgraces of Nikol Pashinyan's government; that is, even turning a blind eye to many things, is obvious, it is not even discussed. But why the West suddenly decided to at least look a little in the eyes of reality, there may be several options, including a warning to Nikol Pashinyan, or the impossibility of completely turning a blind eye in the face of the large scale retreat of democracy, or, which is not less likely, maybe the West as well has already washed its hands of Nikol Pashinyan.