“How can they reveal themselves?”
As a former political prisoner, member of the HAK Petros Makeyan assures that the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Thomas Hammarberg is the only one who has sincerely tried to support Armenia's political prisoners after the events of March 1, 2008.
"He was the only one who gave a clear evaluation of what happened two years ago and evaluated the presence of political prisoners as political vendetta toward the opposition. The authorities' working style hasn't changed. For example, Sasun Mikayelyan has undergone three heart operations, but he is still in jail. As for Nikol Pashinyan, besides keeping him hostage, they have started torturing him," the former political prisoner told "A1+" today.
Petros Makeyan hopes that Mr. Hammarberg will register what is really going on in Armenia during this visit and will present it to the Council of Europe. Mr. Makeyan is sure that only the people can change the current situation in Armenia. "If only 30-50 people gathered at the hotel today, Hammarberg would think either the situation has changed or people have adapted to the situation, but that was not the case today. The society doesn't tolerate the current situation."
Mr. Makeyan believes that the Commissioner's visit will lead to the release of one or two political prisoners, but not Nikol Pashinyan or Sasun Mikayelyan.
As far as the revelation of the murders of the 10 victims is concerned, Petros Makeyan is certain that Hammarberg's visit cannot contribute to progress. "As long as these authorities are in power, the revelation of March 1 is excluded. How can they reveal themselves? The murders will be revealed after change of power."
