HRW speaks in support of members of "Founding Parliament"

The human rights organization "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) has sent a letter to Gevorg Kostanyan, the General Prosecutor of Armenia. In its letter, the HRW made a statement in support of the arrested activists of the opposition movement "Founding Parliament". On April 30, the HRW's letter was released by the Armenian media. In its letter, the HRW has expressed its concern over "violation of human rights to freedom of expression and freedom of thought" and called on the law enforcement bodies to release the arrested activists.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 7, members of the "Founding Parliament" (formerly "Pre-Parliament"), including Zhirair Sefilyan, the leader of the movement "100 Years without Regime", activist Gevorg Safaryan, Varuzhan Avetisyan, the Deputy Chairman of the movement, activist Pavel Manukyan, and Garegin Chukaszyan, the Chairman of the movement, were arrested on suspicion of plotting riots in Armenia.

"We are concerned by the fact that members of the 'Founding Parliament' are being persecuted for their peaceful political views... Armenia should follow the norms of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it signed," the HRW's letter states.

In its letter, the HRW has called Baku to place the arrested activists into cells without criminals and to lift the ban on family visits to them.

On April 30, the "Caucasian Knot" was told by an official from the Investigating Committee of Armenia that the ban on family visits to the activists of the "Founding Parliament" had been already lifted. The official of the Armenian Investigating Committee did not comment on other demands of the human rights defenders.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.