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Armenian journalists and editors have united in defense of their imprisoned colleague, Editor – in- Chief of “Haykakan Zhamanak” (Armenian Times) newspaper, political prisoner Nikol Pashinyan.
Editors and journalists of major Armenian newspapers and websites organized a protest action in Yerevan urging theArmenian authorities to stop the assaults against Nikol Pashinyan in prison and release him immediately. On November 23, a number of Armenian newspapers were published with the “Free Nikol” slogan on their front-page.
Nikol Pashinyan, 35, is a journalist and activist of oppositional Armenian National Congress movement and has been persecuted for his political views since March 2008. Pashinyan was imprisoned in June 2009 in connection with the dramatic events of March 1, 2008 in Yerevan that followed the February 19, 2008 rigged Presidential elections. The journalist is accused of inciting violence against the authorities and organization of mass disorders in breach of the law. The court trial was racked with innumerable abuses of the law, not least of which was the consistent violation of the principle of equality between the prosecution and the defense.
Despite the solid criticism the Armenian authorities received from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, European Union, United States Government and many other international organizations and foreign governments with regards to the trial and imprisonment of Pashinyan, the issue remains unsolved and Nikol Pashinyan is presently serving his three year and eleven month sentence in Kosh prison.
Recently, he has been subjected to physical and psychological abuses while in prison for his refusal to cease writing articles for his newspaper from the prison and for his continued criticism of the government. Pashinyan has been attacked 4 times in the last two months the most recent on the journalist took place on November 17. Two masked individuals assaulted him while he was asleep. Prior to any investigation of the case, prison authorities issued a statement proclaiming that nothings had happened and Nikol ‘has seen it in a dream.’ Only after the journalist presented them with evidence - his bed sheet with footprints of military boots and traces of blood - an investigation was actually launched. The threat to Pashinyan's health and life remains very high.
“We call upon our colleagues, journalists and human rights defenders worldwide to support us in our struggle for freedom and justice. We believe that actions of international solidarity will sober the Armenian authorities and empower Armenian civil society in its fight for Armenia without political prisoners,” says Isabella Sargsyan from Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Armenian Committee.