12:31, 16 August 2015

Activists finish their sitting picket in defence of Colonel Volodya Avetisyan

Gagik Sarukhanyan, organizer of the picket in support of Volodya Avetisyan, Yerevan, July 28, 2015. Photo by Armine Martirosyan for the ‘Caucasian Knot’.

In Gyumri, activists have finished a two-day non-stop picket in support of Colonel Volodya Avetisyan, a Karabakh War veteran. The activists voice their intention to continue the protest actions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the picket was started on August 12, and it was attended by six veterans of the Karabakh War. Earlier, the sitting picket was held on July 25-August 5, and it gathered about 200 participants.

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 protest actions demanding to release Colonel Volodya Avetisyan will be continued. The next sitting picket will be announced in Vanadzor. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Gagik Sarukhanyan, the chairman of the initiative group "In Defence of Volodya Avetisyan", a veteran of the Karabakh War.

According to Gagik Sarukhanyan, the initiative group intends not only to seek the release of Volodya Avetisyan and other political prisoners, but also to solve the organizational issues related to their future activities.

"We have a purpose to consolidate the veterans of the Karabakh War. There is a prerequisite for further struggle aimed to solve numerous problems that have accumulated in the country," Gagik Sarukhanyan has stated.

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

Author: Tigran Petrosyan

Source: CK correspondent