Sarkis Hatspanian to be set free
Sarkis Hatspanian, a French national of Armenian descent, has not been released under the general amnesty announced by the Armenian authorities last week.
Hatspanian was arrested in November 2008 on charges of false denunciation and sentenced to three years in prison.
Arthur Sakunts, head of the Vanadzor-based office of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, says Hatspanian's case corresponds to the amnesty provisions and adds that the law will be effective till September 21, 2011. However, since Hatspanian's term in prison is drawing to an end, he will be freed before September.
According to the spokesman for the Department of Penitentiaries at the Ministry of Justice, Arsen Babayan, Hatspanian will be set free on June 9.
Earlier in the day, Sarkis Hatspanian and Murad Bojolyan, two supporters of the Armenian National Congress (or HAK) remaining in jail after the amnesty, sent a letter to the HAK, congratulating the opposition on the release of its loyalists arrested after the 2008 post-election clashes.
In the letter, Hatspanian urges the HAK to taken an advantage of "positional privilege" and start a dialogue with the authorities. Bojolyan, in his turn, thanked all those who believed in his innocence and fought for his release for three years.
Both of them urged the authorities to seize the unique opportunity and start a dialogue with the authorities, saying that their detention should not be viewed as an obstacle to the potential dialogue with the authorities.
