Epress.am News from Armenia
The Shirak marz (province) prosecutor gave an order to release 22-year old Sarnaghbyur village resident Mnatsakan Aleksanyan, said spokesperson of the RA Investigative Committee Sona Truzyan to Epress.am. Aleksanyan was released on a pledge not to leave the country.
Note, that Mnatsakan Aleksanyan was arrested for participating in a January 15 protest and in the framework of a criminal case for clashes with police resulted from the protests with articles of hooliganism and violence against representatives of the authorities. Today, a car rally was going to be held in Gyumri demanding to release Aleksanyan. Karen Petrosyan, one of the organizers, wrote on his personal Facebook page that believed the rally had a positive impact on the release and said that the Shirak Governor asked them not to go ahead with the rally.
A few websites' broadcasts of January 15 events showed Aleksanyan conversing with Heritage Party MP Zaruhi Postanjyan. Aleksanyan reprimanded the MP for getting into a police vehicle. “I have one question, did you find it appropriate to be seen in a police car on the streets of Gyumri? Answer my question with a yes or no. If you asked anyone from Lenikakan (Gyumri) to take you to London, they would, but you shouldn’t have sit in a dog’s car,” said Aleksanyan.
Thousands of people demonstrated on January 15 in front the Shirak province’s Prosecutor's office demanding that the murder suspect of the 7 members of the Avetisyan family Russian soldier Valery Permyakov be transferred and tried by Armenian law enforcement. One group of the demonstrators decided to move toward the Russian consulate and were barricaded by police, which resulted in a confrontation. Ever since a criminal case has been opened for use of violence against representatives of the authorities, however, no one had been arrested. Many of demonstration participants have been interrogated as witnesses in Gyumri.