The following is an official communique by Armenia’s Heritage (Zharangoutyun) Party

As long as our top leaders, vice president Armen Martirosian, spokesman Davit Sanasarian, and civil society liaison Hovsep Khurhsudian, remain in pre-trial custody on trumped-up charges, the Heritage Party ― which has always believed in taking part in the political process despite its turbulence ― has determined not to take part in the municipal elections scheduled soon across the country.

On the one hand, our representatives serve as model citizens in exercising their right to peaceful assembly― and actually forming a peace wall between policemen and fellow citizens ― and on the other they are arrested violently and under duress and now face a possible sentence of between four and ten years. For what, might we ask?

There is no democracy here. There is no justice here. There is no rule of law here. If absolutely necessary, Heritage ― which has always participated in the political process even in the most unfair of circumstances — might be compelled to endorse other participants in the election process who have not yet been subject to the recent brutality of state and thus do not qualify as prisoners of conscience of the Republic of Armenia.

We haven’t struggled ten long years for this.

16 August 2016
Yerevan