Armenia: picketers demand to free ANC activists convicted for hooliganism

Today, a picket in support of the four activists of the oppositional "Armenian National Congress" (ANC), convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting the police, was held in Yerevan with participation of about 40 people.

Let us remind you that on July 20, 2012, the court sentenced the ANC activists Tigran Arakelyan, Artak Karapetyan, David Kiramijyan and Sarkis Gevorgyan to imprisonment from the terms from six to two years.

The picket was held at the building of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports. One of the aims of the action, as explained by the ANC spokesman Areg Gevorgyan, was to remind the public about what happened to the ANC activists and get "an adequate response from the public, human rights organizations and the media."

Gevorgyan has reminded that in July 2011 a number of young ANC activists were brought to the police from Freedom Square, where they took part in a picket demanding from the president to resign. The police threatened them and demanded to stop their regular actions.

The today's picket was also attended by Levon Zurabyan, a Vice-Chairman of the ANC. He noted that young members of the ANC have taken and go on taking an active part in the struggle for the change of power in the country.

The picket passed without incidents; the policemen who were in front of the GPO kept a low profile, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.