Yesterday Levon Ter-Petrosyan made an appeal to those in prison and at large to stop the hunger strike. Among those who quit hunger strikes are Member of Parliament Hakob Hakobyan, Chairman of the Board of the former ruling Armenian all-National Movement party Ararat Zurabyan, former Deputy Minister of National Security Gurgen Yeghiazaryan, former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Karapet Rubinyan, and others. As of yesterday one of them, leader of the Democratic Homeland party Petros Makeyan, who before that refused both food and water, reportedly stopped abstaining from drinking. They announced that they would temporarily suspend their action but stressed that their demands that political persecutions be stopped, all political prisoners be released and an independent inquiry be launched into the March 1 deadly clashes between police and opposition protesters were still valid.
