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In Armenia The Kid Is Prosecuted For Not Betraying His Father
Siranuysh Papyan, Interviewer
Interview - 13 September 2014, 12:34
Ruzanna, the prosecutor has demanded a severe punishment for Shant
Harutiunyan and your son. In your opinion, what is the reason for such
tough punishment and is the government really afraid of Shant and his
friends?
If you pay attention to the time when charges were brought against
Shahen Harutiunyan [the son of Shant Harutiunyan and Ruzanna Badalyan
- ed.], five months past 5 November 2013, the government is definitely
after something. There was only one act, he hit the policeman once,
and all the cameras shot it. Since then no new circumstance or episode
of crime has become known. Over these five months there have been a
number of cases that caused serious concerns. I even held a press
conference. Unknown people intimidated Shahen at school and at the
entrance of the house. In Metro the plainclothes policeman pushed him
to the ground, nobody has been held responsible for this violence.
Eventually, charges were brought against him. I felt there was
pressure on him. It is clear that Shahen was charged to put pressure
on Shant, to silence him. But then they saw that Shant would not go
silent, and Shahen, despite his young age, does not stop fighting,
grows up and is determined to continue the cause of his father and
grandfather.
Imprisonment for five years for a single punch for his and his
father's defense demonstrates that this is persecution against a
teenage boy. The government that has usurped power is growing brazen.
In your opinion, does the instruction on severe punishment for Shant
and his friends come from Moscow or inside?
Shant is fighting against the Customs Union. The Customs Union does
not support the values for which Shant and his friends are fighting
for. Russia is so demoralized today that it is simply unable to
support those values. Russia is not the country towards which we
should be walking. Besides, historically the interests of this state
have never matched the interests of our country. Unfortunately, very
few forces act against the Customs Union, including Paruir Hairikyan's
National Self-Determination Union and some individuals. Today the
government sees more danger coming from Shant because he makes
revolutionary calls. Apparently, the Armenian government wants to pass
the way to the Customs Union smoothly, and Shant is a hindrance, so
they may fear him. Shant and his friends took to the street for their
political goals and ideas and are now undergoing persecution.
There is no single legal fact that they committed one crime or
another. If a person is dissatisfied with the government and takes to
the street, tries to bring his ideas into being through different
methods, save the country and cannot achieve anything, the time of
revolution comes. And there are different forms of revolutions. In
court Shant Harutiunyan brought Ukraine's example that in the
beginning Yanukovytch punished Maidan's activists, revolutionaries
like criminals because he was stronger, but when Maidan became
stronger and won, they became heroes, and Yanukovytch fled from the
country.
Today Shant and his friends are called bullies and are punished
because the opposite side is stronger. If the Armenian people were a
little more viable and won, the situation would have been different.
Even the boys picked up sticks and hit, they did it for their ideas,
there is no doubt. All revolutions involve pressure and non-legitimate
steps. Simply our society is indifferent but if our society stands up
one day, our boys will get out of prison and win.
How is Shahen feeling? Is he distressed by the thought that he may be
sent to prison?
Of course, he is not. It may sound pompous if I say that his ideas
empower him but it is true. He has grown up on his father's ideas and
he knows that a person must have principles and make sacrifices for
defending his principles. Of course, he is still a child and he does
not know a lot about prisons, about how it feels to be deprived of
freedom but I am sure that one can hardly find one or two other people
of his age that would so calmly go to prison for five years for the
sake of something.
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/32975#sthash.ZoxILJ8J.dpuf
Siranuysh Papyan, Interviewer
Interview - 13 September 2014, 12:34
Ruzanna, the prosecutor has demanded a severe punishment for Shant
Harutiunyan and your son. In your opinion, what is the reason for such
tough punishment and is the government really afraid of Shant and his
friends?
If you pay attention to the time when charges were brought against
Shahen Harutiunyan [the son of Shant Harutiunyan and Ruzanna Badalyan
- ed.], five months past 5 November 2013, the government is definitely
after something. There was only one act, he hit the policeman once,
and all the cameras shot it. Since then no new circumstance or episode
of crime has become known. Over these five months there have been a
number of cases that caused serious concerns. I even held a press
conference. Unknown people intimidated Shahen at school and at the
entrance of the house. In Metro the plainclothes policeman pushed him
to the ground, nobody has been held responsible for this violence.
Eventually, charges were brought against him. I felt there was
pressure on him. It is clear that Shahen was charged to put pressure
on Shant, to silence him. But then they saw that Shant would not go
silent, and Shahen, despite his young age, does not stop fighting,
grows up and is determined to continue the cause of his father and
grandfather.
Imprisonment for five years for a single punch for his and his
father's defense demonstrates that this is persecution against a
teenage boy. The government that has usurped power is growing brazen.
In your opinion, does the instruction on severe punishment for Shant
and his friends come from Moscow or inside?
Shant is fighting against the Customs Union. The Customs Union does
not support the values for which Shant and his friends are fighting
for. Russia is so demoralized today that it is simply unable to
support those values. Russia is not the country towards which we
should be walking. Besides, historically the interests of this state
have never matched the interests of our country. Unfortunately, very
few forces act against the Customs Union, including Paruir Hairikyan's
National Self-Determination Union and some individuals. Today the
government sees more danger coming from Shant because he makes
revolutionary calls. Apparently, the Armenian government wants to pass
the way to the Customs Union smoothly, and Shant is a hindrance, so
they may fear him. Shant and his friends took to the street for their
political goals and ideas and are now undergoing persecution.
There is no single legal fact that they committed one crime or
another. If a person is dissatisfied with the government and takes to
the street, tries to bring his ideas into being through different
methods, save the country and cannot achieve anything, the time of
revolution comes. And there are different forms of revolutions. In
court Shant Harutiunyan brought Ukraine's example that in the
beginning Yanukovytch punished Maidan's activists, revolutionaries
like criminals because he was stronger, but when Maidan became
stronger and won, they became heroes, and Yanukovytch fled from the
country.
Today Shant and his friends are called bullies and are punished
because the opposite side is stronger. If the Armenian people were a
little more viable and won, the situation would have been different.
Even the boys picked up sticks and hit, they did it for their ideas,
there is no doubt. All revolutions involve pressure and non-legitimate
steps. Simply our society is indifferent but if our society stands up
one day, our boys will get out of prison and win.
How is Shahen feeling? Is he distressed by the thought that he may be
sent to prison?
Of course, he is not. It may sound pompous if I say that his ideas
empower him but it is true. He has grown up on his father's ideas and
he knows that a person must have principles and make sacrifices for
defending his principles. Of course, he is still a child and he does
not know a lot about prisons, about how it feels to be deprived of
freedom but I am sure that one can hardly find one or two other people
of his age that would so calmly go to prison for five years for the
sake of something.
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/32975#sthash.ZoxILJ8J.dpuf