Hamakhmbum party condemns Artur Sargsyan's arrest
Artur Sargsyan, the man who was arrested last August and released in December for taking food to members of the Sasna Dzrer group which seized police station in Yerevan, was placed under two months' arrest on Thursday, February 9. Sargsyan, who is nicknamed the “bringer of bread” for his action, today started a hunger strike at the Convicts’ Hospital. On learning the news about Sargsyan’s arrest, Elinar Vardanyan, the Chair of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, contacted Sargsyan’s lawyer Tigran Yegoryan and expressed readiness [on behalf of five lawmakers, members of the Hamakhmbum (Consolidation) party] to act as personal guarantors for Sargsyan’s release. “We strongly condemn the court decision, considering it unacceptable and inhuman. We call on MPs and human rights organizations to keep the issue in the spotlight,” reads the statement signed by Vartan Oskanian, Elinar Vardanyan, Stepan Margaryan, Vahe Hovhannisyan and Hayk Khachatryan.
