Atspanyan's complaint to be considered by Criminal Court of Armenia

On June 2, the Criminal Cassation Court of Armenia will start considering the complaint of Sarkis Atspanyan, a citizen of France, a veteran of the Karabakh War and an activist of the opposition, convicted to 3.5 years of imprisonment on charges of false informing.

On May 26, Mr Atspanyan disseminated a statement saying that after November 2008 he had fallen a victim of a senseless accusation, "passed in one of KGB dark rooms": "All this time, either in KGB cellar or 'Vardashen' prison, I kept fighting as I could against numerous violations of human rights and abuses of human dignity."

Sarkis Atspanyan has noted that on May 14 the prison administration forbade his telephone calls to relatives and friends. According to his story, by using several devoted inspectors, the administration tries to isolate him completely.

"In my opinion, we're not much different from the notorious 1937. However, I clearly realize that in such circumstances there are media having courage to raise their voice against the authorities in defence of the people, whose rights are trampled on and who are pressed by these newly-made sultans," writes Sarkis Atspanyan.