At a press conference held today at the "Ourbat Club", Armenian National Congress (HAK) coordinator Levon Zurabyan noted that, "Political prisoners exist in Armenia and the price for holding political prisoners in the country damages the interests of Armenia in several ways." Mr. Zurabyan commented on the December 17th decision of the PACE Monitoring Group and noted that it was a highly significant development that altered the political landscape in Armenia. Mr. Zurabyan added that the European Council accepted the fact that individuals in Armenia accused of violating Articles 300 and 225 of the ROA Criminal Code and those found guilty solely based on police testimony were indeed political prisoners. He declared that damage thus reaches all the way to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict given that as a democratic nation Armenia can no longer be favorably compared to Azerbaijan.