Epress.am News from Armenia
Since the judge hasn’t yet arrived at Artik penitentiary, Nikol Pashinyan won’t be released, said one of the Artik employees, who added, they’re waiting for the judge after which Pashinyan should be released.
More than 100 people have gathered outside the prison where imprisoned journalist, editor in chief of Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”) Nikol Pashinyan has been serving his sentence.
Pashinyan, 35, was among several prominent opposition figures who went into hiding in March 2008 following a government crackdown on supporters of former president Levon Ter-Petrossian demanding a re-run of a disputed presidential election. He surrendered to the authorities in July 2009 and was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of stirring up “mass disturbances” in Yerevan that left ten people dead.
His sentence, however, was cut in half because of a general amnesty declared by the authorities in June 2009. The opposition figure is expected to be released any day now due to another amnesty approved in parliament only yesterday.
Both he and Ter-Petrossian’s Armenian National Congress consider the case politically motivated.