The Police and the National Security Service of Armenia are threatening the members of the civic initiative supporting arrested Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran Volodya Avetisyan.
The activists say that on Mar 11 they marched to the presidential palace and passed the President a letter demanding that Avetisyan be set free. But the next day the police and the National Security Service began threatening some of them and warning against new actions. So, the activists urge both agencies to act according to the law and not to infringe on their right to freely move and to express their views.
Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran Volodya Avetisyan was arrested on Sept 19 on charge of fraud. The Defense Ministry claimed that he had taken $2,000 from some Zakaryan for a promise to help that man's grandson to dodge the draft. Before the arrest Avetisyan was holding a sit-down strike to demand better life for Nagorno-Karabakh war veterans.Avetisyan is sure that his arrest was the authorities' response to his action.