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Moscow-based tycoon advocates for liberation of Armenian pilots

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  • Moscow-based tycoon advocates for liberation of Armenian pilots

    ITAR-TASS News Agency
    TASS
    June 11, 2005 Saturday 9:40 AM Eastern Time

    Moscow-based tycoon advocates for liberation of Armenian pilots

    By Tigran Liloyan
    YEREVAN


    The liberation of Armenian pilots in Equatorial Guinea proves of
    effective and fruitful cooperation between Armenia and the Armenian
    community abroad, said Ara Abramyan, chairman of the World Armenian
    Congress.

    Abramyan, who played a key role in the liberation of Armenian pilots,
    said on Saturday, "This is an example of effective and fruitful
    cooperation between Armenia and the Armenian community abroad."

    Earlier in the day, the pilots returned home.

    The entrepreneur noted that Armenia and the Foreign Ministry worked
    hard. He recalled that Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan "visited
    Equatorial Guinea. Officials of the Foreign Ministry had been
    visiting the country seven times."

    Chief pilot Ashot Karapetyan said the crew felt the support provided
    by the Armenian leadership. He thanked the people, the president, the
    government, the Foreign Ministry and His Holiness Catholicos Garegin
    II for their care and participation in the liberation of pilots.

    He said the crew turned to be an instrument in the hands of different
    forces in Equatorial Guinea and outside it. "There is no evidence
    that we're guilty," the pilot said.

    The six Armenians, chief pilot Ashot Karapetyan, first officer Samvel
    Darbinyan, navigator Samvel Machkalyan, mechanics Razmik Khachatryan
    and Suren Muradyan, and engineer Ashot Simonyan, are the aircrew of
    an Armenian transport plane that was hired by a German airfreight
    company over a year ago to ship cargo to the oil-rich nation. They
    were arrested in March 2004 and sentenced to between 14 and 24 years'
    imprisonment on November 26 along with a group of South African
    nationals on charges of involvement in a reported plot to topple
    President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

    The pilots, backed by the Armenian government and their German
    employer, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Amnesty International
    condemned their trial as "grossly unfair."
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