ArmInfo.There are no political prisoners in Armenia. This point of view is followed by Minister of Justice of Armenia David Harutyunyan.
On the question, does he think that the verdict to the hero of the Karabakh war Zhirayr Sefilyan is really politically motivated taking into account the severe punishment that he received, the Minister of Justice stated that as a member of the executive power, especially as the Minister of Justice, he has no right to respond to such a question. "Who decides, severe punishment or not? I would like to ask this question to you, and that you answered it yourself." In my opinion, there are two approaches: One approach is when you personally decide that this punishment is severe, and for yourself You consider that a person is a political prisoner, and another approach is when a state system in which a three-level court system operates is acting, "the head of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia told Radio Azatutyun.
According to him, the purpose of the three-level judicial system is to punish the convicted person in accordance with the policy in this area.
Commenting on the fact that human rights activists published a list of those they consider political prisoners, David Harutyunyan said that he also saw the lists published by international organizations in which Naira Hunanyan, the chief convict in the 1999 massacre in the Armenian parliament, is also considered a political prisoner.
Recall that the Capital Court of General jurisdiction at a meeting on March 20, sentenced the hero of the Karabakh war Zhirayr Sefilyan to 10.5 years of imprisonment. Gevorg Safaryan, who is in the same case, was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and Nerses Poghosyan, Hrayr Topchyan, Galust Grigoryan, Sasunik Kirakosyan and Hovhannes Nikoghosyan received 4 years in prison. Zhirayr Sefilyan, the hero of the Karabakh war, known for his opposition activity, co-founder of the "New Armenia" Front, was detained on June 20, 2016 on suspicion of organizing a criminal group.
Then he was charged with the illegal acquisition, possession and use of weapons and ammunition. Sefilyan himself qualified this trial as a political reprisal. Numerous violations of the law in the course of the trial in the case of Sefilyan were also revealed by international experts. Public organizations of the Diaspora also supported Sefilyan. Some human rights activists and opposition politicians called this verdict a revenge on the part of President Serzh Sargsyan for the fact that after a four-day war in Karabakh in April 2016, Sefilyan was the first to raise the issue of territorial losses from the Armenian side.