In Armenia, "Heritage" Party calls on President to release Sargis Atspanyan

Stepan Safaryan, an MP from the parliamentary faction "Heritage" has sent an open letter to President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan asking him to release the veteran of the Karabakh War Sargis Atspanyan. He argues that the prisoner's father is dying.

"Apart from the political and legal joke played on this worthy person, I've learnt also about the heavy position both of himself and his family: the spouses lack boldness to explain their small children living in France and Sargis' father dying of cancer, where their father and son is now," runs Mr Safaryan's letter.

"Sargis Atspanyan should say goodbye to his father, execute his last son's duty. With your assistance, this is realizable," wrote the deputy.

Let us remind you that earlier human rights defenders had stated that Atspanyan was not released out of vengeance. As they said, according to the Law "On Amnesty", participants of the Karabakh War are covered by this act. However, until now, the Ministry of Justice has failed to sanction Atspanyan's release, as there is no certificate about his participation in the War in his case file.

On June 30, Vardan Arutyunyan, a member of the committee in defence of political prisoners, stated that the amnesty of five Armenian political prisoners, Atspanyan inclusive, is deliberately protracted.

Mr Safaryan has also addressed President with a request to give Mr Atspanyan a certificate that he had participated in the Karabakh War and had contributed a lot to formation of the army, as reported by the PanARMENIAN.Net.