The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) said on Thursday that 28 of its members and supporters arrested in the wake of last year’s disputed presidential election have been set free since the declaration of a general amnesty late last week.
HAK representatives said they expect several more “political prisoners” to be granted amnesty in the coming weeks. They insisted that the pardons initiated by President Serzh Sarkisian were the result of pressure exerted on his government by the Armenian opposition and the international community.
“We have managed to get 28 more hostages out of the regime’s prisons,” Levon Zurabian, the HAK’s central office coordinator, told a news conference. “On this occasion, I congratulate the Armenian society, you journalists, because I believe you too made your contribution to this development, human rights organizations, and all those who have actively fought for their release.”
“But we must all remember that 18 political prisoners will remain in prison,” said Zurabian. One of them, Sasun Mikaelian, is a member of parliament. Mikaelian was sentenced on Monday to eight years in prison for organizing the March 2008 violence in Yerevan and illegally possessing weapons and ammunition.
Two other opposition parliamentarians, who were convicted of only riot organization and therefore received shorter sentences, walked free in court. Under Sarkisian’s amnesty bill approved by the National Assembly on June 19, only those oppositionists who were jailed for up to five years are to be set free.
The amnesty led the HAK to bring forward its next rally in Yerevan to July 2. Zurabian said the rally will celebrate the oppositionists’ release from prison. But he did not specify whether the opposition alliance plans to launch a new campaign of sustained anti-government protests this summer.
“We have managed to get 28 more hostages out of the regime’s prisons,” Levon Zurabian, the HAK’s central office coordinator, told a news conference. “On this occasion, I congratulate the Armenian society, you journalists, because I believe you too made your contribution to this development, human rights organizations, and all those who have actively fought for their release.”
“But we must all remember that 18 political prisoners will remain in prison,” said Zurabian. One of them, Sasun Mikaelian, is a member of parliament. Mikaelian was sentenced on Monday to eight years in prison for organizing the March 2008 violence in Yerevan and illegally possessing weapons and ammunition.
Two other opposition parliamentarians, who were convicted of only riot organization and therefore received shorter sentences, walked free in court. Under Sarkisian’s amnesty bill approved by the National Assembly on June 19, only those oppositionists who were jailed for up to five years are to be set free.
The amnesty led the HAK to bring forward its next rally in Yerevan to July 2. Zurabian said the rally will celebrate the oppositionists’ release from prison. But he did not specify whether the opposition alliance plans to launch a new campaign of sustained anti-government protests this summer.