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HOW CAN YOU SEND INNOCENT PEOPLE TO JAIL?
http://www.a1plus.am/en/politics/2012/07/27/vardan-harutyunyan
03:23 pm | Today | Politics
Human Rights Activist Vardan Harutyunyan has addressed a letter to
Serzh Sargsyan.
"Mr. Sargsyan
I spent the best years of my life in Soviet prisons and in exile to
be able to live in a free and independent Armenia and, if necessary,
to have a chance to write to the President of Armenia. The years of
my imprisonment are left behind. I have been living in independent
Armenia for twenty years but still I cannot address to you saying
'Honourable President.' It gives me a pain. I regret to say that
the controversial presidential elections in 2008, the post-election
bloodshed of March 1, 2008, and the ensuing political persecution
and violence initiated by you do not allow me to call you in that way."
Mr. Sargsyan, regardless of my attitude towards you, today you are
sitting on the presidential chair. Much depends on you. You are a
prince in this small country. You are beyond and outside the law. If
your imaginations about the despotic ruler were such, then you are
realizing your ideas. You are almighty in this country and everything
depends on you. Both you and I know that we do not have and will not
have justice and free courts in Armenia as long as you wish it. This
is gospel truth. Given today's bitter reality, I am writing to you
asking for mercy for the activists of the Armenian National Congress
(HAK) Everyone, including you, knows that those young people at bar
are not criminals. Everyone knows that the court does not have any
evidence proving their guilt. Everyone knows that they are promising
young people concerned about the country's fortune. It is welcoming
that young people take interest in social and political affairs of
their country. I find it inexpedient to say more high-flown words. Now
I am applying to you as a human being.
Mr. Sargsyan these young people perhaps are the same age as your
children. You are their judge and you cannot prove the opposite. There
is no point in doing it. No one will believe you. How can you send [so
easily] to prison these innocent boys for their political viewpoints?
How can you [so easily] rig elections, distort justice, involve
criminal oligarchs into politics and protecting them destroy the work
on which you have spent so many years!
Mr. Sargsyan if you do not feel pity for your long-term work, do feel
pity for your children and grandchildren. Nothing is eternal in this
world. Nor can you be in power for ever. I call on you to be guided
for a moment by discretion, rather than by political expediency and
false revenge. These young people should have the right to live freely
after the end of you tenure in office. They should not be ashamed of
injustice, persecution, violence, as well as unjustified and arbitrary
sentencing of young people reported during your office.
We are at the threshold of presidential elections. People cannot
forgive everything, including the rigged elections, the March
1 bloodshed, the existence of political prisoners, violence and
persecution by police, obscenity of oligarchs, humiliating electoral
bribes. Even a minor gesture can play a crucial role. Today you
can avoid committing another sin and I call on you to seize that
opportunity. Acquit the HAK activists, put an end to violence and
persecution. Who knows fortune may smile upon you this time and you
will not be forced to perpetrate another March 1 to maintain power."
http://www.a1plus.am/en/politics/2012/07/27/vardan-harutyunyan
03:23 pm | Today | Politics
Human Rights Activist Vardan Harutyunyan has addressed a letter to
Serzh Sargsyan.
"Mr. Sargsyan
I spent the best years of my life in Soviet prisons and in exile to
be able to live in a free and independent Armenia and, if necessary,
to have a chance to write to the President of Armenia. The years of
my imprisonment are left behind. I have been living in independent
Armenia for twenty years but still I cannot address to you saying
'Honourable President.' It gives me a pain. I regret to say that
the controversial presidential elections in 2008, the post-election
bloodshed of March 1, 2008, and the ensuing political persecution
and violence initiated by you do not allow me to call you in that way."
Mr. Sargsyan, regardless of my attitude towards you, today you are
sitting on the presidential chair. Much depends on you. You are a
prince in this small country. You are beyond and outside the law. If
your imaginations about the despotic ruler were such, then you are
realizing your ideas. You are almighty in this country and everything
depends on you. Both you and I know that we do not have and will not
have justice and free courts in Armenia as long as you wish it. This
is gospel truth. Given today's bitter reality, I am writing to you
asking for mercy for the activists of the Armenian National Congress
(HAK) Everyone, including you, knows that those young people at bar
are not criminals. Everyone knows that the court does not have any
evidence proving their guilt. Everyone knows that they are promising
young people concerned about the country's fortune. It is welcoming
that young people take interest in social and political affairs of
their country. I find it inexpedient to say more high-flown words. Now
I am applying to you as a human being.
Mr. Sargsyan these young people perhaps are the same age as your
children. You are their judge and you cannot prove the opposite. There
is no point in doing it. No one will believe you. How can you send [so
easily] to prison these innocent boys for their political viewpoints?
How can you [so easily] rig elections, distort justice, involve
criminal oligarchs into politics and protecting them destroy the work
on which you have spent so many years!
Mr. Sargsyan if you do not feel pity for your long-term work, do feel
pity for your children and grandchildren. Nothing is eternal in this
world. Nor can you be in power for ever. I call on you to be guided
for a moment by discretion, rather than by political expediency and
false revenge. These young people should have the right to live freely
after the end of you tenure in office. They should not be ashamed of
injustice, persecution, violence, as well as unjustified and arbitrary
sentencing of young people reported during your office.
We are at the threshold of presidential elections. People cannot
forgive everything, including the rigged elections, the March
1 bloodshed, the existence of political prisoners, violence and
persecution by police, obscenity of oligarchs, humiliating electoral
bribes. Even a minor gesture can play a crucial role. Today you
can avoid committing another sin and I call on you to seize that
opportunity. Acquit the HAK activists, put an end to violence and
persecution. Who knows fortune may smile upon you this time and you
will not be forced to perpetrate another March 1 to maintain power."