Varuzhan Avetisyan, a member of the Sasna Dzrer armed group, in a telephone conversation with the 1IN.AM news outlet said they have decided to lay down their arms and surrender to law enforcement starting at 8 p.m today in order to avoid further bloodshed.

Avetisyan said that due to repeated assaults by police snipers, there are only twenty members of the Sasna Dzrer group left in the police building seized on July 17.

Avetisyan said that losses on both sides have been great and taking into account that the main objective of the armed group has been achieved, namely spurring a popular revolt amongst the people, the group has decided to surrender and continue the struggle for real change in Armenia as “military prisoners”.

Avetisyan called on the people of Armenia to continue their revolt against a regime he labelled as “bloody and anti-Armenian”, assuring them that final victory was a foregone conclusion.

He labelled the current struggle as a “war of national liberation” so that Armenia does not become a vassal state of Russia.

In conclusion, Avetisyan called on the people to heed their instructions, from behind the prison walls, regarding the struggle to come.