Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Victory For Civil Society?: Family, Activists Ascribe Removal Of Ban

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Victory For Civil Society?: Family, Activists Ascribe Removal Of Ban

    VICTORY FOR CIVIL SOCIETY?: FAMILY, ACTIVISTS ASCRIBE REMOVAL OF BAN ON VISITING JAILED PROTEST LEADER TO THEIR STRUGGLE

    HUMAN RIGHTS | 15.01.14 | 16:13

    Photolure

    By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
    ArmeniaNow reporter

    The investigative body has lifted the ban to visit nationalist
    "Tseghakron" party's jailed leader Shant Harutyunyan and his 13
    friends, and as a result Harutyunyan's wife and son were able to see
    him at the prison hospital.

    Harutyunyan's wife Ruzan Badalyan says she has no clue why the ban has
    been lifted and was caught by surprise, since law enforcement bodies
    have not offered any explanation on the sudden "change of heart".

    "I guess it is the result of our fight. At least, I believe so,"
    she says.

    Harutyunyna, along with 13 supporters, were taken under arrest after
    the November 5 clash between the police and a group of demonstrators
    on Mashtots avenue, downtown Yerevan. Late last year their custody
    was extended for two more months. Harutyunyan and the others are
    accused of using dangerous and non-dangerous violence against an
    authority representative. Before the march of November 5, seen as
    a civil rebellion attempt, Harutyunyan had gone on a sitting strike
    for several days in Liberty Square with a slogan "I want a revolution".

    Human rights advocate Artur Sakunts, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly
    Vandazor office leader, told ArmeniaNow that the ban to visit has
    been waved due to civil society demands.

    "We were rightfully believing that the ban on visits had no legal
    ground and that idea was in the basis of active civil involvement,
    hence we were demanding annulling that illegal decision, which has
    been achieved," says Sakunts.

    Harutyunyan was transferred to the prison hospital after a two-week
    hunger strike which led to his poor health condition; he stopped the
    strike at hospital.

    On January 1 his supporters held an action of protest and a march
    demanding the release of the jailed activists. Earlier, on December
    30, at "Barekamutyun" subway station an unidentified person used
    violence against Harutyunyan's teenage son Shahen Harutyunyan, 14,
    and his friends when they were distributing flyers informing of the
    protest scheduled for January 1.

    Human rights activists and oppositionists claim that Harutyunyan and
    his friends are classical political prisoners. They view the extended
    custody and ban on visits for family members as violations of human
    rights, a punishment for dissidence.

    Helsinki Committee of Armenia chairman Avetik Ishkhanyan, who has
    visited Harutyunyan for a few times, told ArmeniaNow that "his calls
    claiming they possessed petrol bottles proved to be merely rhetorical,
    as no weapon was found, they were unarmed, even the wooden sticks they
    had was no weapon, just symbolic, it was a peaceful march and if the
    police did not interfere and refrained from violence, it would have
    been a peaceful march only."

    Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan has stated that like any other
    citizen Harutyunyan will be held liable for his actions if the court
    finds him guilty.

    Sakunts says imprisonment as a means of constraint applied to
    Harutyunyan and his supporters has to be changes as there are no
    grounds to believe either he or his friends might influence the
    preliminary investigation.

    "Neither should it be applied to witnesses or victims, that's absurd,
    they are both witnesses and victims. Let a pledge to not leave the
    city be used as a measure of restraint," he says.

    http://www.armenianow.com/society/human_rights/51353/armenia_opposition_protest_shant_harutyunyan_visit s




    From: A. Papazian
Working...
X