Epress.am News from Armenia
At 1:15 pm today, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg went to Artik penitentiary to meet with Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”) chief editor, imprisoned journalist Nikol Pashinyan, said former political prisoner, member of the opposition group Armenian National Congress (HAK) Vardges Gaspari.
Leaving the penitentiary, Hammerberg said nothing of his meeting with Pashinayn, while Pashinyan supporters on scene welcomed him with greetings.
“When I went to Artik, already there were residents of Artik and nearby regions, and HAK supporters. They said when they were moving Nikol Pashinyan from one building to another, they saw Nikol, who raised his two hand-cuffed hands and greeted those gathered,” he said.
Gaspari said, comparatively, his expectations from Hammarberg’s visit are few.
“If our cup of patience overfills, in this case, only such structures can respond in some way, but when we’re in this state, they can’t do anything,” he said.
In Gaspari’s opinion, not even the one-and-a-half-hour-long journey to Artik from Yerevan could prevent Hammerberg to meet with Pashinyan.
“Basically, the government didn’t want to organize the meeting between Pashinyan and Hammarberg, which could’ve even been at the National Security Service [offices], but this fact as well didn’t become an obstacle for Hammarberg.”
Gaspari noted the Pashinyan-Hammarberg meeting was in fact quite long, about 2.5 hours. Hammarberg left the penitentiary at around 3:30 pm.