A person is entitled to make independent decisions, freely express his/her opinion, protect his/her freedom of expression and oppose unlawfulness if necessary
15:25, November 5, 2016 | News, Own news | Freedom of Assembly and Association
Just on this day 3 years ago, Shant Harutyunyan and more than 40 of his supporters were arrested
Right to civil disobedience, freedom of assembly and association, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, conscience, thought and religion
This is the non-exhaustive list of the rights each individual, person and citizen has regardless of his/her place of residence, citizenship, nationality, gender and sexual orientation, education and social status and regardless the nature of the ruling regime in the country.
A person is entitled to make independent decisions, freely express his/her opinion, protect his/her freedom of expression and oppose unlawfulness if necessary.
Just 3 years ago, on October 31, 2013, Shant Harutyunyan started a sit-in on Liberty Square in Yerevan and on November 5, he initiated a ‘Mask March’ for Guy Fawkes International Day.
The ‘Mask March’ making part of the initiative called ‘Revolution of Values’ was obstructed by the police; there were clashes, Shant Harutyunyan and his 40 supporters were detained. Some of them were released later, and Shant Harutyunyan and his 14 supporters were sentenced to imprisonment by the judgment of the General Jurisdiction Court of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan, RA of October 17, 2014. Shant Harutyunyan’s minor son Shahen Harutyunyan was also sentenced to an imprisonment of 4 years.
Political persecutions against dissidents continue to this day. They were intensified widely especially after the failure in initiating Armenia-EU Association Agreement and Serzh Sargsyan’s decision of 2013 on joining the Eurasian Economic Union.
As of September 2015, according to the data of HCA Vanadzor, 13 persons prosecuted for their political views were kept in custody in the Republic of Armenia.
Today we can already state that the number of political prisoners in RA has increased drastically; large-scale political persecutions were launched especially against the members of the ‘Founding Parliament’ before and after ‘Sasna Tsrer’ group seized the RA Police Guard and Patrol Service regiment on July 17, 2016.