HAK ACTIVIST ADDRESSES LETTER TO U.S. AMBASSADOR

08:15 pm | Today | Politics

Tigran Arakelyan, a jailed activist of the Armenian National Congress
(HAK), has addressed a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John
Heffern. He gave the letter to his friends during yesterday’s sitting
in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

In the letter the HAK activist says he decided to apply to the
Ambassador after reading his statement concerning ex-foreign minister
Vartan Oskanian’s persecution.

“My friends and I have been sent to 2-6 years in prison on trumped-up
charges. You expressed your concerns over Oskanian’s case but you did
not even refer to the high-profile trial involving the HAK activists.

Don’t you think that it is bad for your country and its representation
to present selective interpretation of democracy and justice?” Tigran
Arakelyan said in the letter.

He also suggested that the U.S. Ambassador or his representative meet
with the jailed activists to know the details if he does not possess
enough information to express an opinion.

The letter will be disseminated by media outlets. Its copy has been
sent to the U.S. official by post.

The opposition activists were taken into custody after an August
9, 2011, standoff with police officers in a Yerevan park and were
immediately charged with hooliganism against a representative of
law-enforcement body.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress