Yesterday, lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan and I undertook the defense of political prisoner Aregnaz Manukyan and in the evening we went to see him at “Abovyan” prison. The mood was good, the spirit strong. Lawyer Tatevik Soghoyan wrote about this.

Political prisoner Aregnaz Manukyan’s message from “Abovyan” prison

“Dear compatriots,

Although you already know the motive and spirit of political persecution, and I imagine that you are no longer surprised by daily repressions, I want to say the simplest and most important thing first.

I have not committed any crime. I have not done anything for which I will be called to legal or even moral responsibility. I have not done anything against my motherland and my state, regardless of the crazy assumptions that are in my fabricated accusation.

I understand that many of you may be confused by the mysterious veil of “state secret”, many of you feel constrained by the mere existence of such an accusation, but I assure you that time and facts will prove my innocence.

And so I thank everyone who did not feel constrained for a second to speak about my political persecution, I thank everyone who supported me, and in general those people who are fighting for the freedom of political prisoners in Armenia.

There is absolutely no factual basis in the motion to detain me. It is completely built on someone’s assumptions and vivid imagination. As a result of those assumptions and the political subjugation of the law enforcement officers, today I am completely isolated from the world and I am deprived of the opportunity to even talk to my 13-year-old daughter and my 85-year-old mother on the phone. This inhuman treatment by the system was as shocking as it was unfortunately expected. I take this also willingly.

I think people have a natural question: why was I arrested only a month and a half after the arrest of Andranik Tevanyan, even though we were charged in the same “case”? What was not known about me on May 23 that became known only on July 9? Of course, I will address these questions later.

Now I just want to say with gratitude to my relatives and people concerned about my addiction that I feel good, mentally strong and physically strong.

Strength, patience and God’s blessing to our country. Freedom to all political prisoners. Freedom to the Republic of Armenia,” Manukyan noted.

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