YEREVAN — President Serzh Sarkisian has formally asked the Armenian parliament to declare a general amnesty, a move which is expected to lead to the release of all remaining Armenian opposition political prisons.
In a short statement today, Sarkisian’s office said the amnesty would be dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence to be celebrated in September.
Under a relevant bill drafted by Sarkisian’s staff, some 400 convicts will be freed while about 2,000 others will have their prison sentences shortened. Other details of the proposed amnesty are not yet known. It did not specify which prisoners will be eligible for early release.
Six prominent Armenian oppositionists are still behind bars. Sarkisian hinted at their impending release as he made a number of concessions to Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK) late last month.
Those concessions included the lifting of a de facto government ban on opposition rallies in a key Yerevan square and a renewed investigation into the March 2008 deadly clashes between security forces and Ter-Petrosian supporters demanding the rerun of a disputed presidential election.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the latest updates from MassisPost.

You May Also Like

130,000 March in Los Angeles to Commemorate Armenian Genocide Centennial

LOS ANGELES – In an unprecedented show of support for the centennial…

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Eren Keskin

By Hambersom Aghbashian Eren Keskin (born 24 April 1959, Bursa, Turkey) is…

Turkish PM Apologizes for 1930s Mass Killing of Kurds

ANKARA — Turkey’s prime minister has for the first time officially apologized…

Armenian Government to Start Process of Returning Property Plundered and Taken Overseas

YEREVAN- First Vice Prime Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan has sent a…