12:31, 27 July 2015

Picketers start collecting signatures in support of Volodya Avetisyan in Yerevan

Gagik Sarukhanyan gives an interview in Freedom Square. Photo by Grigory Shvedov for the "Caucasian Knot"

A sit-in picket in support of Colonel Volodya Avetisyan is being held for the third day in Freedom Square in Yerevan. The picketers are compiling a list of his supporters, ready to start new protest actions.

Volodya Avetisyan, a participant of protest actions of Karabakh War veterans, was detained on September 20, 2013. On July 17, 2014, the first instance court found him guilty of a fraud and sentenced to six years in prison and a fine.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that starting July 25, a termless sit-in picket is held in support of Avetisyan and all other political prisoners of Armenia in Freedom Square of Yerevan.

As stated by Gagik Sarukhanyan, a Karabakh War veteran and the director of the Fund "Law and Assistance", the aim of the protest is not only to try to release political prisoners, but also to help activists to self-organize.

He added that protesters are not going to sit in Freedom Square until the authorities release all political prisoners; the supporters of Avetisyan intend to design a new strategy for the struggle to release political prisoners, taking into account the recent protests against the increase of electricity tariff.

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

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent