RFE/RL ran a story yesterday on a judge recently fired from his position who says he will now support the candidacy of former president Levon Ter Petrosian in the 19 February presidential election in Armenia. Interestingly, linking to an interview I conducted with him on the trafficking of women and children from Armenia, Ara Manoogian over at Martuni or Bust remembers the judge in question.

It seems that Levon Ter-Petrosian has attracted the support of former judge Pargev Ohanian. If you recall from my interview with Onnik, there is mention of corrupt practices by judge Ohaian […]

[…]

[…] The law contains provisions to hand down heavy sentences to traffickers but the legal system is not functioning correctly. I was present at the trial of five traffickers in Armenia last August and as far as I am concerned, Judge Ohanian and the prosecutor failed to do their jobs properly. These individuals should have received sentences of at least ten years but when Gulnara Shahinian, an expert on trafficking, presented the judge with details of Armenia’s international obligations to prosecute those guilty of trafficking, he instead insisted on prosecuting them with old Soviet laws that carried lighter sentences of only two years.

[…]

Though I don’t think LTP has a chance to win, if he does for some reason come back into power, you can be sure that the “justice” we will see is not the kind of justice we are in need of. If Ohanian is a reflection of the type of people LTP will surround himself with to fix our problems, then we can’t expect too much change if LPT wins, nor will we see our problems go away.

Well, I’m sure Ohanian will say that he was “only following orders,” which is pretty much what most officials argue in any country when their less than honorable past is raised although it’s true, the judiciary is not independent in Armenia. However, it is interesting to note Ohanian’s apparent change of heart when it comes to matters of conscience.

As RFE/RL points out, others might instead be concerned that other miscarriages of justice weren’t enough to make Ohanian do the decent thing much earlier.

Ohanian would not say just how he can contribute to the Ter-Petrosian campaign. `Frankly speaking, I don’t consider myself a politician,’ he said. `I’m more of a fighter for justice.’

Ohanian denied that he decided to back the opposition presidential candidate because of having lost his job. `There has always been injustice and I have always felt sorry for it,’ he said. `I think that my mission is to fight against injustice. At the risk of sounding indiscreet, I continue to consider myself a judge who constantly fights against injustice.’

Ohanian’s own track record was far from perfect in that regard, though. He was among those Armenian judges who sentenced in 2003 and 2004 hundreds of participants of opposition demonstrations to up to 15 days in prison. Local and international human rights groups strongly condemned the so-called administrative detentions, forcing the Armenian authorities to scrap the Soviet-era practice.

Then again, corrupt judiciary, corrupt politics, and it reminds me of something that Armenia Now veteran reporter Vahan Ishkhanyan wrote recently.

“[W]hat difference does it make to a regular resident who is in charge of appointing mayors, or whether the unfair court verdict is carried out by Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s or Kocharyan’s or Sargsyan’s order?”

Ara’s full post is here.