News - Karabakh leaders are in Azerbaijan prisons, Armenia leadership doesn’t raise this matter, lawyer says

The head of that organization, which for years, until 2018, followed the events taking place in Armenia, when someone was arrested, they would stand on his foot, they would look askance, there would be announcements at once, they would draw red lines, they would say: can't, is in Yerevan. Lawyer Ruben Melikyan stated this to reporters during Monday’s protest in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia. "The red lines that were drawn for Armenia in the EU, that this is not allowed, this is antidemocratic, is against the law, a person cannot be arrested for political reasons, a person cannot be knocked to the ground, or stepped on the head for political reasons. These phenomena do not exist now. We have gathered here to remind [Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General] Marija [Pejcinovic] Buric that we remember those times, we demand that no double standards apply. Currently, there are at least five political prisoners in Armenia," Melikyan added, in particular. According to him, the second reason why they have assembled outside the MFA is that Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and other representatives of the Armenian authorities will surely not raise the matter of Armenians being kept in Azerbaijan. "At least from here they will hear that Armenia has not forgotten and will not forget the military-political leadership of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] as prisoners of conscience, political prisoners, as people in prison for their nationality. They are not talked about on international platforms. We have gathered here for the [Armenian] political prisoners of Yerevan and [Azerbaijani capital] Baku," noted Ruben Melikyan. As reported earlier, CoE Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric has arrived in Armenia. High-level meetings are planned, including with Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan. The aforesaid protesters claim that there are political prisoners in Armenia, and they demand from Buric to hold a discussion in the CoE on political prisoners in Armenia, and adopt a resolution demanding from Armenian authorities the release of all political prisoners.