OPINION: ARMENIA HAS TURNED INTO PENAL INSTITUTION
http://www.a1plus.am/en/politics/2012/10/26/hak-activists
07:07 pm | Today | Politics
Members and supporters of the opposition Armenian National Congress
(HAK), who have been staging protests outside the Prosecutor General's
Office in Yerevan, believe that only after holding free and fair
elections Armenia will not have political prisoners.
"The ballots marked by voters at polling stations should reach the
right place. Only in that case will this country stand on the right
path to freedom and independence," said human rights activist Vardan
Harutyunyan.
The participants of the action call for immediate release of HAK
activist Tigran Arakelyan and his friends who were taken into
custody after an August 2011 standoff with police officers in a
Yerevan park and charged with hooliganism against a representative
of law-enforcement body.
Tigran Arakelyan, David Kiramijyan, Sargis Gevorgyan and Artak
Karapetyan were later sentenced to 2-6 years in prison.
"They continue to demonstrate their stupid stubbornness and leave
the sentences unchanged,"said Areg Gevorgyan.
"The jailed opposition activists are subject to political persecution
and a verdict returned in the result of political chase cannot be
grounded," said human rights activist Vardan Harutyunyan.
The people gathered outside the Prosecutor General's Office claim
that any citizen could appear at the bar as long as Serzh Sargsyan
and his administration are in power.
"Armenia has turned into a penal institution where everyone is
a prisoner. We hardly differ from the jailed HAK activists," HAK
activist Norayr Gasparyan told A1+.
http://www.a1plus.am/en/politics/2012/10/26/hak-activists
07:07 pm | Today | Politics
Members and supporters of the opposition Armenian National Congress
(HAK), who have been staging protests outside the Prosecutor General's
Office in Yerevan, believe that only after holding free and fair
elections Armenia will not have political prisoners.
"The ballots marked by voters at polling stations should reach the
right place. Only in that case will this country stand on the right
path to freedom and independence," said human rights activist Vardan
Harutyunyan.
The participants of the action call for immediate release of HAK
activist Tigran Arakelyan and his friends who were taken into
custody after an August 2011 standoff with police officers in a
Yerevan park and charged with hooliganism against a representative
of law-enforcement body.
Tigran Arakelyan, David Kiramijyan, Sargis Gevorgyan and Artak
Karapetyan were later sentenced to 2-6 years in prison.
"They continue to demonstrate their stupid stubbornness and leave
the sentences unchanged,"said Areg Gevorgyan.
"The jailed opposition activists are subject to political persecution
and a verdict returned in the result of political chase cannot be
grounded," said human rights activist Vardan Harutyunyan.
The people gathered outside the Prosecutor General's Office claim
that any citizen could appear at the bar as long as Serzh Sargsyan
and his administration are in power.
"Armenia has turned into a penal institution where everyone is
a prisoner. We hardly differ from the jailed HAK activists," HAK
activist Norayr Gasparyan told A1+.