Poll: 54% of respondents believe there are political prisoners in Armenia

ArmInfo. 54% of respondents believe there are political prisoners in Armenia today. This was announced by Aram Navasardyan, Director of MPG LLC (MPG), a full member of the international GALLUP association in Armenia, at a press conference in Yerevan on September 25, presenting the survey results.

The survey, as Navasardyan noted, was conducted via telephone calls to residents of the Republic of Armenia from September 22 to September 24; the sample size was 1,001 people.

The question of whether there are political prisoners in Armenia today, according to him, has been asked since 2018 (the rise to power of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan - ed.). Navasardyan clarified that the proportion of those who answer this question positively is increasing every year.

"For example, 54% of respondents noted that there are political prisoners in Armenia. Those who answered affirmatively were asked to specify who exactly they consider political prisoners. 53% named the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan; 42.1% named the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, Gagik Tsarukyan; 23.4% named the leader of the Strong Armenia bloc, Samvel Karapetyan; 10.5% named Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan; 5.8% named the leader of the Mother Armenia party, Andranik Tevanyan; 5.3% named Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan; 4.1% named the board member of the Mother Armenia party, Argenaz Manukyan, 2.9% – the son of Armenia's second president, Sedrak Kocharyan. Another 17.5% took the opportunity to mention multiple people," Navasardyan reported.

The sociologist also clarified that fewer respondents named Samvel Karapetyan and Bagrat Galstanyan because they are under house arrest, while the second president of Armenia and the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) are under arrest. He explained that Armenian citizens do not fully understand what house arrest is and the restrictions it entails.