Former political prisoners unite
Why is there a "Political Prisoners" non-governmental organization when there are no longer any political prisoners in Armenia? This question came as a surprise for president of the newly created organization, former political prisoner Myasnik Malkhasyan.
"We have former political prisoners whose rights have not been restored to this day. They were arrested illegally. Should we forget their issues?" said Malkhasyan.
Before this organization, there was another organization called "Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners and the Persecuted".
"Our organization will mainly be involved with political prisoners' issues. Since there are no political prisoners in Armenia, we will be involved with the former political prisoners' issues and the restoration of their rights," said Mr. Malkhasyan.
Malkhasyan recalled that nearly 180 people were arrested for their political views after the 2008 presidential elections."Our organization includes all those former political prisoners who hadn't made any deals with the authorities."
The cases of most of the former political prisoners have already reached the European Court of Human Rights. According to the president of the "Political Prisoners" non-governmental organization, the latter will follow up on the procedure.
One of the goals of our organization is to prohibit the sentencing of anyone for his political views and free speech in Armenia."
The non-governmental organization is planning on collaborating with not only the "Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners and the Persecuted, but all law defense organizations as well.
