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From vacation to dismissal: Municipality employee says he was fired because of supporting opposition

A former employee at the Lori province administration appealed to the RA Administrative Court to rule the steps taken by the higher management to dismiss him from work illegal.

Armen Hovhannisyan, the member of All Armenian Movement party claims he was fired from his job of senior specialist of the internet center at the municipality because he participated in the February rallies in Yerevan, while enjoying his right for a leave.

The municipality however qualified his involvement in political rallies as a violation of the principles of keeping politically restraint, grounded by Article 2 of the RA Law on Civil Service.

According to the law, the civil servant has not right to violate the principle of politically restraint behavior, using his or her position for the interests of a party, non-governmental, including religious, associations, to agitate a certain way of attitude to them, or be engaged in any other political or religious activities while performing professional duties.

“I wonder how I could agitate for while operating an internet center,” Hovhannisyan said at the court. (which is to make a decision soon). “I am a husband and father in family, a citizen in the street, a civil servant in the workplace,” Hovhannisyan tried to defend his right to enjoy his vacation at his own discretion. “How can I abuse my professional responsibilities in the street, in the square?”

Hovhannisyan, 46, was an LTP representative during the last presidential election and was on leave before March 4th, and participated in the rallies after the election.

Upon Hovhannisyan’s return to work, the head of the staff asked him to give a written explanation on his participation in the March 1st and 2nd rallies, asking further to write an appeal for discharge. He refused to write the appeal, with his dismissal following the refusal.

Samvel Makaryan, head of the secretariat at the province administration, defending the interests of his structure at the court, did not recall when exactly the member of the oppositional party neglected his professional duties agitating for presidential candidate, the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan. “We could not follow him all the time to see what he did?!” Makaryan wondered.

Despite the lack of evidence, the province administration supposes, it is impossible to work without propagating for the party or a candidate one belongs to or supports.

“Naturally, the representative of the party could not exhibit political restraint, by not agitating the party platform or not representing party interests,” Aram Kocharyan, head of the Lori province administration mentioned in his note to the court.

Hovhannisyan’s explanation: “I have not agitated at the workplace, and I could do whatever I wanted to, while on a leave”, was not taken seriously at the province administration.

“Let him occupy a political position if he has political views,” Ashot Manukyan, head of the staff at the province administration advises. Despite being a member of the Republican Party of Armenia, he asserts, he gets involved in politics after the work.

Edmon Marukyan, Hovhannisyan’s defender, qualifies the province authorities’ attitude to his client as a classic example of political persecutions.

Citing the same Law of Civil Service, the defender believes, Hovhannisyan could not be on his professional position while on leave, and could not therefore have responsibilities and authorities, hence – could not use them in favor or against any one.

“This is a state structure. What will it be, if we take that there are representatives of tem parties here? It appears they [the employees] will forget about their work and [defend] only their party interests…” states Manukyan.

According to the head of the administration staff, the majority of 153 employees in the structure are members of the RPA.

On the question whether that does not hinder to the work of the province administration, Manukyan responded: “But it’s a ruling party, it represents the authorities, that’s natural.”

Whereas the majority of the employees participated in Serzh Sargsyan’s rally, organized during working hours, with none of them been dismissed for violating the principle of exhibiting political restraint.

The Republican leaders at the administration had warned their employees belonging to the Armenian All-National Movement Party (with only one of the three still working there) earlier last autumn to avoid politics and rallies.

Hovhannisyan’s immediate superior, head of the secretariat Arshavir Ghukasyan was also dismissed, though unsolicited. Ghukasyan, also an Armenian All-National Movement Party member, did not mention the reasons of leaving. There are yet no talks on the dismissal of the third member of the party working in the administration, Mayis Khachatryan.

“Khachatryan has written an explanation he has not participated in the rallies and has not, therefore, violated the civil servant’s principle of keeping political restraint,” Manukyan explains.

The rest employees of the province administration, RPA members, Manukyan says, have been politically restrained, and therefore continue to work in the structure.

The article was prepared within the framework of the seminar “Raising the Role of the Media in Covering Justice and Law Enforcement System”, organized by “Journalists for the Future” NGO (www.jnews.am).

Source: www.armenianow.com