The Armenian National Congress (HAK), has issued a statement condemning yesterday’s court ruling sentencing Nikol Pashinyan, opposition political activist and "Haykakan Zhamanak" editor, to seven years imprisonment. The HAK statement argues that the charges against Pashinyan of "organizing and fomenting mass public unrest" were totally fabricated and without merit. Pashinyan’s lawyers stated that they would appeal the verdict. The statement says that, on the contrary, ample evidence and documentation was presented in the court refuting the charges as baseless. It called the ruling the height of government cynicism and loathing directed against the people and the most evident manifestation of violating the law since the murders of March 1, 2008. HAK called the entire trial a show and that the judge merely executed a political directive from above. "The court, regime and personally Serzh Sargsyan have snubbed the demand as stated in the PACE resolution that it is not acceptable to punish anyone who has not used physical force or called for its use," the statement reads and says that even the pre-trial detention of Nikol Pashinyan contradicted the Pace resolution regarding those who had voluntarily come out of hiding. Concluding, HAK said it views the court’s ruling as a sign of fear and panic on the part of the regime and that the regime merely wishes to create an aura of self-confidence.