Yesterday on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners the Armenian National Congress (ANC) activists and former political prisoners staged a protest in front of the RA Prosecutor’s Office. Let us mention that in Armenia there are still 17 political detainees. Protesters were carrying posters and chanting, "Freedom!", "Struggle till the end!" After the ANC youth began to use a megaphone and beat drums, police officers approached the group and ordered to stop beating drums. "The drums disturb the ordinary routine of the prosecutor’s office. You had better continue your protest without drums and megaphones," said the policemen. Their words made the protesters indignant and they began shouting over the megaphone, "Go away, criminals! You will be tried." The police retired and watched the action from the opposite pavement. "The day is symbolic as it also marks the political prisoners of the former Soviet Union. It seems to me that we should remember this day as a nightmare left over from the Soviet Union-era. We thought that no one could be persecuted and tried for his political stance in free and independent Armenia. But I mark this day with shame because our friends are still in prison. We must fight as long as there is even one prisoner jailed for his political views. That is shameful for all of us," ANC representative Alexander Arzumanyan said. Former political prisoner Vardan Harutiunyan said: "All barbaric authorities ill-treat political prisoners. Officials of Cheka rule the Russian Federation today and their agencies are deployed in Armenia. These are people who neglect all human virtues."
