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In Armenia The Kid Is Prosecuted For Not Betraying His Father

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  • In Armenia The Kid Is Prosecuted For Not Betraying His Father

    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

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