Wives of Imprisoned Opposition Activists Demand their Release

The wives of imprisoned opposition activists protested today — as they do every Friday — in front of the RA General Prosecutor’s office in Yerevan. Their husbands, who many refer to as political prisoners, were imprisoned in connection with the events of March 2008 in which clashes between police and protestors following an allegedly rigged presidential election left 10 people dead and many more wounded.

Also participating in the demonstration were Armenian National Congress members and other formerly imprisoned activists.

“There hasn’t been a retreat, never. Then we were giving the letters by hand, now we put them in a box because they don’t provide any answers. They say, we adhere to criminal cases. What criminal case? It’s natural, we don’t agree, this is political [not criminal]. The contents of the letter haven’t changed to this day. Uncovering March 1, rigged elections, release of political prisoners,” one of the demo organizers, Sona Muradyan, told Epress.am.

According to Muradyan, the fact that only 9 remain in prison is the result of their fight.

As per usual, demonstrators were holding in their hands photos of their imprisoned loved ones, as well as placards asking for their release. Today a new poster had joined the others: “A massacre by the illegal authorities: March 1 is a bloody, open wound, our sorrow, organized by the Armenian government,” it read.

Demonstrators were chanting, “Punish March 1 Perpetrators,” “Serzhik, resign,” (referring to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan) and “Shame, Shame!”