Political Prisoners of our days: How the term is defined today (video)
Seventeen citizens in Armenia are imprisoned for their political views. This is the opinion of some human rights organizations. Fifteen of them, involved in a case known as ‘Shant Harutyunyan and his friends,’ who were arrested on November 5 after protesting against Armenia’s membership to the Customs Union. A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for his political views, says Paruyr Hayrikyan, Chairman of the National Self-Determination Union (AIM). The Criminal Code does not give a definition of a political prisoner. Like in many other countries, in Armenia too, participants of political actions are charged with disorderly conduct or the use of force against a government representative. Freedom fighter Volodya Avetisyan, who was struggling for the rights of his friends, was soon arrested on fraud charges. “We have an obvious example - the case of Vladimir Avetisyan who was arrested on some trumped-up charges. Witnesses contradicted each other in court, later, it was found that they had been intimidated,” says Gagik Sarukhanyan, a member of Pre-parliament Initiative. The human rights activists also included Hayk Kureghyan’s name in the list of the 17 political prisoners who shot a policeman from a toy gun during the November 5, 2013 protest. "Hayk Kureghyan made a spontaneous move displaying intolerance. He jumped onto a car and using a toy pistol showed intolerance. In the result, they levied against him new charged and eventually he faced up to ten years’ imprisonment.” Artur Sakunts, Head of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office, says Kureghyan has appeared in prison for political intolerance. “Given the fact that Liska [Syunik Governor Suren Khachatryan] and his bodyguard illegal used weapons and killed a person, we can say that Hayk Kureghyan is undoubtedly a political prisoner.” Authorities in Armenia do not admit that there are prisoners in the country. Speaking at Columbia University ten days ago, Serzh Sargsyan personally said that there are not political prisoners in Armenia.
