Gyumri Protest Activist Released: Mnatsakan Alexanyan Confined To Ar

GYUMRI PROTEST ACTIVIST RELEASED: MNATSAKAN ALEXANYAN CONFINED TO AREA LIMITS PENDING INVESTIGATION

News | 06.02.15 | 14:44

Mnatsakan Alexanyan (left) with his father

By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter

Twenty-two-year old resident of Sarnaghbyur Mnatsakan Alexanyan,
who was arrested on February 4 in connection with street protests in
Gyumri in mid-January, has been released but confined to area limits,
it emerged today.

Thousands of Gyumri residents took to the streets on January 15 to
demand that the Russian soldier who allegedly murdered seven members
of a local family be transferred to Armenian custody and be tried by
Armenian laws.

Alexanyan’s arrest caused an uproar in the city where many participants
of the protests and human rights activists believe he did nothing
wrong.

Before Alexanyan’s released, his lawyer Hayk Harutyunyan told
ArmeniaNow that his arrest had no legal grounds. In the arrest
protocol, 4th section of Article 258 of the Armenian Criminal Law is
featured – violation of public order, hooliganism.

“If a case is filed only for hooliganism, then Mnatsakan faces up to
7-year-imprisonment and if violence against a government representative
is added – then he may face 5-10 years in jail,” said Harutyunyan,
adding that he had applied to the Shirak Prosecutor’s office with a
request for Alexanyan to be released.

Sarnaghbyur residents planned to hold protests and block the
Yerevan-Gyumri highway if the authorities did not release their fellow
villager. They say Mnatsakan is one of the hundreds of participants of
the January 15 protest and did not understand why he was particularly
pinpointed for the arrest.

Earlier, parliamentary Heritage faction member Zaruhi Postanjyan
sent an open letter to Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan asking him to take
up immediate measures in order to ensure the release of Alexanyan,
who she thinks was arrested illegally. The letter read that the
decision for arrest was made upon an illegal order and Alexanyan is
“an especially chosen innocent suspect”.

“Mnatsakan Alexanyan was many times invited to interrogation on case
N 1800615 as a witness; moreover, his passport was at the disposal
of the body conducting the case. There were many others around him,
and they all can witness his innocence, however they were not invited
for questioning. Thus, suspecting Mnatsakan Alexanyan of committing
a crime and arresting him is illegal and follows a special goal,”
the letter said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress