MARCH 1 “LOCOMOTIVE GROUP” IS BEING PROCESSED
Support A1+!An interview with former political prisoner Vardan Harutiunian, a member of the Committee for the Protection of Political Prisoners.
Mr. Harutiunian, how many people of prisoners on the case of March 1 remain imprisoned today?
76 people are under arrest, some of them have been sentenced to different periods of imprisonment. A group of prisoners has been separated since their cases should be sent to court. That group to their understanding should be a “Locomotive Group”, the leaders who supposedly conducted March 1.
And that “Locomotive Group” will be blamed and found guilty under Article 300 of the Criminal Code /appropriation of power/, won’t they?
As well as all accusations, their accusations will certainly not be proved in the Court either and preliminary investigation hasn’t even taken any care of that. They don’t need to ground and prove any accusation, they just have to proclaim and read the verdict.
Mr. Harutiunian, how do you explain the fact that article 300 is being dropped away from the accusation of some of the accused (e.g. Gagik Jhangirian), while others are yet being persecuted with the very article, e.g. Alexandre Arzoumanian?
It doesn’t make any sense to find any explanation or logic in the actions of pre-investigation body. Even Law doesn’t work here. All is being executed by a phone call. There is a guiding team somewhere over here which decides which article is the most suited for a certain individual to be sent to the Court and how many years’ imprisonment should he get.
Nevertheless, PACE appealed to stop criminal persecution under two articles, including article 300. But up till now a group of politicians are being persecuted just for power capture. The authorities don’t take any actions to dismiss those cases, moreover, as you mentioned, they are engaged in forming a “locomotive group” to forward the cases to the Court under that article. How do you estimate the policy of RA authorities not to satisfy the demands of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe?
They don’t adhere to PACE requirements, furthermore they have crossed all allowed boundaries. It’s not imperative for them to fulfill the demands of any International or European Institution. It’s much more essential for them to solve the current issues occurring at a concrete moment. They think they will condemn people, send them to prisons and then will see what happens. They don’t view the situation from a long-term perspective.
We are aware of the health problems of political prisoners.
You are right, among political prisoners there are many whose health state is critical and most of them have everyday health problems which need urgent medical treatment but not within the jail. They have to be taken to city hospitals and get permanent treatment.
And why isn’t that fact getting enough attention by state embodies?
Since our state embodies have taken those people to jails not because of their fault but for general punishment, they are led by the principle to punish certain people. They just revenge. They are not prisoners, but hostages. And as a rule there is never a humane attitude towards hostages. And it’s what our authorities demonstrate.
Interviewed by Diana Markosian
