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PROTEST MARCH IN SUPPORT OF SHANT HARUTYUNYAN (VIDEO, PHOTOS, UPDATED)
14:22 ~U 10.01.14
A crowd of activists gathered in Yerevan's Liberty Square on
Friday for a protest march in support of Shant Harutyunyan, the
nationalistTseghakron party's leader detained in the wake of an
anti-government protest in November.
The opposition Heritage party's leader, Raffi Hovhanisian, who has
also recently returned from the United States, has joined the crowd.
Speaking to the journalists on the scene, he considered Harutyunyan
a political prisoner who needs support.
Artur Sakunts, the chairman of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly's
Vanadzor Office, is also among the protesters.
Harutyunyan was detained on November 5 as he attempted to head
to the Presidential Office together with a group of supporters to
"blow up the building" (as he had earlier stated). But the police
later managed to stop the procession. Subsequent clashes led to the
arrest of 30 activists, including Harutyunyan.
The Tseghakron party's leader now faces charges over using violence
against a policeman.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____
The protesters are heading to the Prosecutor General's Office,
chanting the slogans "Freedom to Political Prisoners" and "Free,
Independent Armenia".
As the march continued, Sakunts said their first demand is permission
to visit Harutyunyan and his jailed supporters.
"In September 2013, [President] Serzh Sargsyan made a single-sided
decision to hand over the Armenian citizens to the [Russian-led]
Customs Union. We declare that we cannot be slaves. With this idea on
their minds, Shant and his friends gathered in Liberty Square before
November 5 to voice protest against the unlawful decision. We call
for releasing Shant," he told reporters.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ______14:
14:36
Reaching the Prosecutor General's Office, the protesters continued
chanting slogans.
Paruyr Hayrikyan, the National Self-Determination Union's leader who
later joined the procession, expressed his anger at the decision to
ban visits to Shant Harutyunyan and the other jailed activists.
"They don't have the right to ban visits, even in the case of someone
who committed the heaviest crime. It is the right of a person to
meet with his loved ones at times. He declared a hunger-strike in
order to be given a chance to meet with relatives," the politician
told reporters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc_OSguzHMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWt_VJs3nU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4vTQCqSY_4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMIt6QKVGDc
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/01/10/shant-ert/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
14:22 ~U 10.01.14
A crowd of activists gathered in Yerevan's Liberty Square on
Friday for a protest march in support of Shant Harutyunyan, the
nationalistTseghakron party's leader detained in the wake of an
anti-government protest in November.
The opposition Heritage party's leader, Raffi Hovhanisian, who has
also recently returned from the United States, has joined the crowd.
Speaking to the journalists on the scene, he considered Harutyunyan
a political prisoner who needs support.
Artur Sakunts, the chairman of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly's
Vanadzor Office, is also among the protesters.
Harutyunyan was detained on November 5 as he attempted to head
to the Presidential Office together with a group of supporters to
"blow up the building" (as he had earlier stated). But the police
later managed to stop the procession. Subsequent clashes led to the
arrest of 30 activists, including Harutyunyan.
The Tseghakron party's leader now faces charges over using violence
against a policeman.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____
The protesters are heading to the Prosecutor General's Office,
chanting the slogans "Freedom to Political Prisoners" and "Free,
Independent Armenia".
As the march continued, Sakunts said their first demand is permission
to visit Harutyunyan and his jailed supporters.
"In September 2013, [President] Serzh Sargsyan made a single-sided
decision to hand over the Armenian citizens to the [Russian-led]
Customs Union. We declare that we cannot be slaves. With this idea on
their minds, Shant and his friends gathered in Liberty Square before
November 5 to voice protest against the unlawful decision. We call
for releasing Shant," he told reporters.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ______14:
14:36
Reaching the Prosecutor General's Office, the protesters continued
chanting slogans.
Paruyr Hayrikyan, the National Self-Determination Union's leader who
later joined the procession, expressed his anger at the decision to
ban visits to Shant Harutyunyan and the other jailed activists.
"They don't have the right to ban visits, even in the case of someone
who committed the heaviest crime. It is the right of a person to
meet with his loved ones at times. He declared a hunger-strike in
order to be given a chance to meet with relatives," the politician
told reporters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc_OSguzHMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWt_VJs3nU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4vTQCqSY_4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMIt6QKVGDc
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/01/10/shant-ert/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress