19-year old behind bars
Tomorrow Armenian National Congress supporter David Kiramijyan will mark his 19th birthday at "Nubarashen" penitentiary. Screaming "Fr-ee-dom to David Kiramijyan", "David, David, we are with you" in defense of Kiramijyan, Armenian National Congress activists, David Kiramijyan's friends and family members today marched from the Congress's central office, through Abovyan Street to the RA Prosecutor General's Office and then the PACE Office.
Some of them were waving the tricolor, others were holding photos of David Kiramijyan and some had worn clothes with photos of David on them. They were distributing flyers reading "19-year old ANC activist David Kiramijyan is Armenia's first student political prisoner" to people passing by. Passers-by kept asking what the purpose of the action was.
Let us remind that David Kiramijyan was arrested on May 31 at Freedom Square and was charged under Point 1, Part 3, Article 258 of the RA Penal Code for hooliganism and a two-month arrest was chosen as a precautionary measure on June 3.
Action participant Yelena Nalbandyan told "A1+" that the actions will be ongoing as long as David Kiramijyan is in prison. Another participant and one of David Kiramijyan's friends, Ana Vardanyan, noted:
"I am not well aware of the law, but I know that David was not the person who deserved this kind of punishment. It is not fair. Tomorrow we will celebrate his birthday near Saryan statue. He is a student of the Theater Institute, has done etudes, is a very good interlocutor and friend and it is not fair that he is not with us today."
A couple of police officers overseeing the action stopped the participants' march. Reaching the PACE Office, the demonstrators stopped for a moment , screamed and then handed their letter.
"In the letter and the attached video we show that David Kiramijyan's arrest was illegal. He was arrested for wanting to enter Freedom Square and to walk. The video shows how he was attacked and how all steps taken by the police were illegal," said ANC youth wing activist Sargis Ghazaryan.
