Karabak war veterans return medals

Karabak war veterans Pavel Manukyan and Armen Lambaryan today announced their decision to return their medals and awards as a sign of protest against the January 31 violence in Berdzor, Karabakh. The freedom fighters are going to return the medals they received for the bravery demonstrated during the Karabakh war through their commander Zhirayr Sefilyan who will give the medals to ‘one of the representatives of the acting regime.’ “As a freedom fighter I cannot wear the same medals which are worn by the butcher of this nation. Not a single noble freedom fighter would tolerate this offense. What happened in Berdzor on January 31 was terrorism carried out on a state level. And now we want to set an example to our comrades-in-arms and friends that it is time for self-purification. We should throw these medals at those who gave them to us; we did not fight for these metal pieces,” Pavel Manukyan told A1+. On January 31, scores of activists representing the Founding Parliament opposition movement, a successor of the Pre-parliament pressure group, organized an automobile march to Nagorno-Karabakh as part of their campaign seeking a regime change in Armenia.  Near Berdzor, they were stopped by local police and a group of plainclothes men who forcefully blocked their access to the territory of Karabakh. A number of activists, including Jirayr Sefilyan, a Karabakh war veteran and a former commander of the Shushi special detachment, were beaten up during the incident. Also, some vehicles of the automobile march were damaged.