In Armenia, protesters demand from authorities to release political prisoners

On September 9, in Yerevan, about 50 persons attended an action demanding to release Armenian political prisoners, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports. According to the protesters, at present, in Armenia, 17 persons are kept behind bars for political reasons.

The protest action in the capital of Armenia was joined by members of civil initiatives "Law and Assistance", "In Support of Volodya Avetisyan", "Shant and Freedom", and "Union for Justice".

The participants of the protest action have read out an appeal to the international organization "Amnesty International" (AI) asking for help in releasing 17 political prisoners in Armenia.

The authors of the appeal emphasize that the fight for freedom, fairness and justice in Armenia has become impossible, since active citizens, who come to the streets to express their opinion, are being arrested and subjected to violence.

Suzanna Simonyan, a member of the initiatives "Union for Justice" and "Law and Assistance", has criticized the prosecutor's request submitted to the court on September 8 in the course of the trial against the arrested participants of the protest action held on November 5, 2013.

"It is sufficient to read the prosecutor's request to sentence Shagen, a minor son of Shant Arutyunyan, to deprivation of liberty for a term of 5 years to realize that the authorities just decided to wipe up the family," Suzanna Simonyan has noted.