Amnesty deepens the crisis
"Not only is amnesty not helping overcome the political crisis that has been going on in Armenia for the past year and a half, but is also deepening the crisis," says Armenian National Congress representative David Shahnazaryan.
According to Shahnazaryan, the authorities are not planning to end the crisis with any political methods.
He said that he would not like to give any positive evaluation to amnesty beause based on their calculations, there are still 20 political prisoners in different penitentiaries.
Why was amnesty declared? David Shahnazaryan brings up two reasons for that: the first was people's active participation and the second was the show that the authorities put on for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. According to Shahnazaryan, this step will not allow the PACE to deprive Armenia of its voting rights; however, Armenia will still be overseen by the Monitoring Committee.
"All political prisoners are going to be released through the struggle of the people and not pressure from outside," said Shahnazaryan, adding that the movement will continue until there are no more political prisoners in Armenia.
Although he is not acquainted with the list of prisoners to be released, the ANC representative believes that election falsifiers will be among other criminals to be released.
David Shahnazaryan confirmed that the ANC would most probably hold a rally next week.
