The Armenian authorities do not want to lag behind Azerbaijani colleagues by the number of political prisoners in the country, Armen Martirosyan, Deputy Head of Heritage Party, told ArmInfo when commenting on the verdict against Shant Harutyunyan and his friends.
"If the authorities continue the reforms making people like Shant Harutyunyan prisoners and appointing people like Surik Khachatryan governors, Armenia will degrade to the feudal system period in the near future", he said. To resist this process, all public strata should join efforts to get rid of the ruling regime, he added.
Martirosyan pointed out that the verdict against Shant Harutyunyan and especially his son Shahen Harutyunyan is unacceptable. "Every father would be proud of such a son, who would defend him without violating the law and moral standards", he said. The politician stressed that the 5 Nov 2013 incident was the result of provocation of the police dressed as civilians.
To note, Leader of Tseghakron Party Shant Harutyunyan has been sentenced to 6 years in prison and his son Shahen Harutyunyan has been given a 4-year suspended sentence. The verdict was delivered on October 17 by the court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork Marash communities of Yerevan. Vahe Mkrtchyan, one of Shant Harutyunyan's teammates, has been sentenced for 7 years in jail, Albert Sarkaryan - 6 years, Sevak Mnatsakanyan - 5.5 years, retired Lieutenant Colonel Vardan Vardanyan, Liparit Petrosyan and Avetis Avetisyan - 5 years, Hayk Harutyunyan - 4.5 years, Alex Poghosyan and Mkrtich Hovhannisyan - 4 years. Armen Hovhannisyan, who served in the Armenian army for 20 years, has been sentenced to 2 years in jail, and Tigran Petrosyan has been given a 1-year sentence.