Yerevan: protesters march to PACE Office demanding to release opposition activists

Participants of the today's rally, which was organized by public initiative "Let's Release Youth of Congress" and held in Yerevan, passed to the Yerevan Office of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) a letter, demanding to release young opposition activists.

The protest action was attended by representatives of the public initiative, the Armenian National Congress (ANC), and MPs from the opposition. The letter with the demand to acquit the four activists of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) was publicly read off by Areg Gevorgyan, a representative of the youth wing of the ANC.

"European family, which stands for human rights as a universal value, has no right to remain silent, when a Member State of the Council of Europe sentences young people to imprisonment for their political beliefs," states the letter, addressed to the PACE.

The appeal also states that the court's decision to deprive the young activists of liberty is unjustified and that a political reprisal was committed against them.

"I am here as a citizen of Armenia. I believe that if Tigran Arakelyan is released, it will happen only under civil pressure," said Nikol Pashinyan, Deputy of the National Assembly from the fraction of the ANC, involved in the protest action.

"The y act properly, let them fight for the establishment of justice; someone has to fight, since indifference became the most common feature of our people, who lost faith in everything. It is good that there are still people, who are not afraid of the authorities," stated Gayane K., a staff member of the Institute of Physics.

The participants of the protest actions handed the letter to a staff member of the PACE Office in Yerevan. The march passed off without any incidents.