ArmInfo. The recent verdict of the court in the "Sasna Tsrer" case is evidence that the situation in Armenia has not undergone any special changes since the reign of Serzh Sargsyan. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by the coordinator of the secretariat of the "Sasna Tsrer" All-Armenian Party Varuzhan Avetisyan.
"In this light, the terms of imprisonment set by the court for our friends did not come as a surprise to us. Everything was decided even during Serzh Sargsyan's ruling. And there simply could not be changes in the attitude towards people who rebelled against the colonial administration and its plans in the country, which continues to remain a semi-colony of Russia. Accordingly, our freedom is secondary and derived from the prospects of Armenia's liberation from the status of a semi-colony, "he stressed.
It should be reminded that on February 24 the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan considered the members of the "Sasna Tsrer" armed group guilty in hostage-taking, illegal storage, theft of weapons and murder. By the court decision Pavlik Manukyan was sentenced to 10, Varuzhan Avetisyan to 7 years and 4 months in prison. The court found Smbat Barseghyan guilty of the murder of two policemen, Artur Vanoyan and Yuri Tepanosyan, and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. Gagik Yeghiazaryan was sentenced to 7 years and 5 months, Areg Kyureghian to 7 years and 1 month, Armen Bilyan to 4 years, Sedrak Nazaryan to 8 years and 2 months, Edward Grigoryan to 6 years and 6 months, Mkhitar Avetisyan to 7 years and 6 months of imprisonment. All of theconvicted do not plead guilty and intend to appeal the verdict in the Court of Appeal.
According to Avetisyan's estimates, Armenia's dependence on Russia has significantly increased following the 44-day war. And the country is gradually turning into a bargaining chip in the political bargaining between Moscow and Ankara. Accordingly, the threat of an attempt to use the scenario tested in Artsakh in the rest of Armenia is growing.
The need to expand the Russian military presence in Armenia, voiced recently by Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan, was described by Avetisyan as part of the process of turning the Armenian Armed Forces into an appendage of the Russian army. In his opinion, this is part of the process of reducing and withdrawing the Armenian army from Artsakh. Moreover, as a result of the redeployment of a part of the 102nd Russian military base from Gyumri to the south of Armenia, according to the opposition politician, it suddenly became clear that "the Turks will not swallow us anymore." "In the light of all the recent processes, we have already announced the beginning of a new stage in our national liberation struggle. It starts on March 16, the day of the conclusion of the Russian-Turkish, Moscow Treaty. There will be rallies and other protest actions. We continue to develop campaign in order to raise our people to their feet and free our country from the colonial regime. Acting in a situation of hybrid war, we perfectly understand all the difficulties on this long path, "he said. According to Avetisyan, the media, "analysts", "political scientists", lawyers, officials of various caliber are involved in the campaign against "Sasna Tsrer". All of them pursue one goal - to discredit, respectively, neutralize the national liberation movement. A similar state of affairs with the participation of the head of the current government has been going on for almost 5 years. And, according to his estimates, it has already become natural for the "Sasan Tsrer" members.