Edmon Marukyan


Edmon Marukyan, is an Armenian lawyer, Member of National Assembly, elected three times. First time in May 2012 from the 30th electoral district, which includes the third largest city of Armenia, Vanadzor, and two nearby villages of Gugark and Shahumyan in Lori Province as an Independent politician. He was reelected to the National Assembly in April 2017, leading the proportional list of the Way Out Alliance. The third time he was elected in December 2018 leading Bright Armenia party proportional list. He also serves as chairman of Bright Armenia.

Early life and education

Edmon Marukyan was born on January 13, 1981 in Kirovakan, Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union. He attended School #6 of his home town Vanadzor, then served in the Armenian Army.
Marukyan graduated from the Moscow Institute of Commerce and Law in 2002 with a Bachelor of Law degree. In 2006 he received qualification of a Specialist for the Protection of Human Rights and Interests in the , Warsaw. In 2007 he has graduated from the with a Master of Law degree. Three years later, in 2010, Marukyan received an LL.M. studying Human Rights and International Law at the University of Minnesota Law School as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow.
Along with legal education, Marukyan participated in numerous specialized advocacy and Human Rights training courses in Armenia, Poland, Hungary, the US, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Germany, and Russia.

Career

Since 2001, Marukyan has been actively involved in human rights activism in Armenia. He has been the head of several non-government human rights organizations. From 2007 to 2008 he lectured Philosophy and Political Science at the Vanadzor State University. Since 2008 Marukyan has been a member of the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia. He is also author of articles and reports on human rights in Armenia. Since 2001, he has specialized in the protection of human rights and has been considerably involved in the strengthening of democracy and civil society in Armenia. In 2008 Marukyan became the chairman of the . In 2005, as a human rights NGO representative, he became an observer at the Public Monitoring Group, observing the rights of persons taken into custody at criminal-executive institutions within Armenia. He has provided legal consultation to a number of projects, defended citizens in court hearings, conducted strategic litigations taking cases up to the European Court of Human Rights.

Political career

2012 election

The 2012 parliamentary election was held on May 6. The official campaign started a month earlier, during which Marukyan said he walked from neighborhood to neighborhood. He defeated Republican Viktor Dallakyan, which was an independent candidate for past 4 elections and became a member of the ruling party just months prior to the election.
Armenian media widely responded to his election, calling him the "Bright Spot", "Kinder Surprise" of the May 6th election.
On May 8, 2012, just two days after the election Marukyan announced that he will not join any fraction.

2017 election

In the 2017 parliamentary election, Marukyan led the proportional list of the Way Out Alliance, which won 9 seats out of 105 in National Assembly in the 2017 parliamentary election, becoming the 3rd political power out of 4 entering the RA National Assembly.
In addition to his committee assignments, Marukyan has been a member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2017. As part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, he serves on the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination.

2018 election

In the 2018 parliamentary election, Marukyan led the proportional list of the Bright Armenia party which came up third and won 18 seats out of 132 in National Assembly.

Personal life

Marukyan is married and has two children. He is fluent in Armenian, English and Russian.
In 2017, the German magazine treffpunkteuropa.de mentioned Marukyan as one of the most promising political figures for 2018.