It is difficult to speak about free elections when opposition figures are detained over speech, said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive board member of IODA and former director of Human Rights Watch, during a press conference in Yerevan.

“I would like to briefly present several specific concerns that we have regarding the political and legal environment in which these elections are taking place, apparently under conditions of improper pressure and interference by government officials,” she said, according to Panorama.am .

According to Whitson, democratic systems require independent institutions, including political parties, religious organizations, media outlets, bar associations and an independent judiciary.

“In all these areas, over the past week, we have heard extensive evidence of how the government is improperly interfering and engaging in improper actions,” she said.

Whitson also addressed the arrests of opposition figures, emphasizing that, in her view, they appear to have political motivations. She referred in particular to cases involving Samvel Karapetyan, the prime ministerial candidate of the Strong Armenia party, and several archbishops of the church.

“In some cases, these arrests and other apparently politically motivated detentions were carried out with excessive police force, using large numbers of security personnel,” she said.

She also expressed concern about the extensive use of pretrial detention against individuals accused, in her assessment, of politically related offenses.

“It should especially be noted that Mr. Samvel Karapetyan, currently the leader of one of the well-known political parties, remains under house arrest. It is very difficult to imagine that free and fair elections can take place under conditions where the leader of a political party — accused merely of a speech-related offense — remains deprived of liberty.

This does not create a good impression of Armenia’s democracy when political opposition representatives remain in detention,” she said.