A public statement calling for the release of jailed French-Armenian political activist and Karabakh war veteran Sarkis Hatspanian, signed by 11 deputies of the NKR National Assembly, has been sent to the RoA Ministry of Justice. The 11 deputies make up one-third of the NKR legislative body. The statement, signed by Artsakh war veterans, political figures and intellectuals, demands that the general amnesty passed by the Armenian parliament on July 19, 2009, also be extended to Hatspanian who was sentenced to 3.5 years on a charge of "false denunciation". Mr. Hatspanian has been jailed for the past nine months. The statement points out that Mr. Hatspanian's 84 year-old father now suffers from kidney cancer and is at death's door and urges Armenian authorities to at least allow Sarkis the chance to see his ailing father for the last time.