Epress.am News from Armenia
Speaking to Epress.am, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor office (HCAV) President Arthur Sakunts discussed the reasons for occasional problems arising between imprisoned Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”) chief editor Nikol Pashinyan and other prisoners.
“Even in an open society, that is, not in a penal institution, today there are contradictions, value clashes; how is it possible that in a closed system, where criminal values operate and where there is someone, in the face of Nikol Pashinyan, who hasn’t lived and does not live with criminal values, that clashes won’t happen?” asked Sakunts, who has visited the political prisoner in Gosh penitentiary.
The human rights activist also described how he spoke with Gosh penitentiary admin staff for a few hours.
“The administration doesn’t know how to deal with political prisoners; they only know how to deal with individuals charged with criminal acts. Even criminals don’t know how to deal with Nikol. Well, in their unwritten rules, writing is not accepted, but Nikol is a writer, a journalist, how can he not write?” asked Sakunts.
He added that a country where there are political prisoners and where “the authorities carry out narrow-minded, naive acts and they imprison a journalist, they should have also thought about opening a special penal institution for individuals imprisoned for their political views.”
“If anything happens to Nikol, it will be only the government who will be responsible; even the administration has no culpability here. They would’ve wanted Nikol Pashinyan to be released earlier, so they can work hassle-free, they too have been burned, the government couldn’t care less about the administration,” he said.