Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian authorities have yet to give a response to the protesting residents of Yerevan's Sari Tagh neighbourhood on their request to grant clemency to the nine Sari Tagh men who were arrested following a clash with police three months ago. The arrestees are facing charges for allegedly committing violence against law enforcement officers during the clashes that occurred in the neighbourhood on July 19, the second day of the stand-off in the nearby police headquarters in Yerevan's Erebuni district; if convicted, they could face up to 10 years in prison.
Dozens of Sari Tagh residents, who have been staging weekly demonstrations for more than a month, gathered again outside the presidential residence today to demand that authorities stop ignoring their appeal letters. Speaking to Epress.am, protester Narine Ghazaryan said that the reception staff at both the presidential office and the National Assembly keep redirecting them to the office of Armenia's general prosecutor.
“The petition we'd originally submitted to the National Assembly was subsequently sent by them to the general prosecutor's office, and from there – to the prosecutor's office of Yerevan. We still have no idea what has become of that petition; none of our letters or requests has been responded to,” Ghazaryan stated. “We ask that our guys be granted clemency, but we don't hold out much hope that state authorities will fulfill any of our requests. Only Serzh Sargsyan can give a solution to this issue,” she added.