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Crackdown on opposition force backfires in Armenia

10 April 2015 [16:33] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The recent crackdown of Armenia's rulers on the opposition party has backfired as the authorities are now concerned that more rallies will be staged in reaction. Where Yerevan hoped to subdue the opposition it only served to fuel the situation and to create a reactionary movement of great intensity.

Members of the Founding Parliament, a radical opposition movement, have vowed to launch a series of non-stop protests on April 24 in spite of the government's repressive campaign.

The FP said it would gather all its supporters in the streets of Yerevan to start its campaign - "100th Anniversary Without the Regime" on the day of the state-run centennial celebration of the so-called "Armenian Genocide".

"Despite April 7 arrests of party leaders on charges of planning to organize mass unrest, on April 24, we have started the process which will result in the deposition of all incumbent rulers," the party announced in an official statement.

On April 7, followers of the movement organized a protest in front of the temporary detention center in Erebuni demanding the immediate release of all the arrested. Movement members say the arrests are political persecution.

The Heritage parliamentary faction's member, Zaruhi Postanjyan, who visited the arrested, said FP leader Zhirayr Sefilyan and his friends are still strong and determined to fight on until they achieve their goals.

"The regime has its own fears and it is clear that when it is afraid of someone it turns immediately to extreme measures, and April 7 events are one of those extreme moves," Postanjyan said.

A statement by an observer group that visited the six arrested members of the Founding Parliament, revealed that there is a ban imposed on visits and phone calls to their relatives. The group believes that those actions by the government are a clear violation of human rights.

The Armenian police launched a sudden raid on the opposition movement in Yerevan which led to the arrest of several opposition members as well as seizure of the organization's properties.

The Investigative Committee of Armenia reported that the detentions took place within the framework of a criminal investigation conducted in view of possible "mass disturbances" expected during public events scheduled for April 24. Whereas, the incarcerated dissidents, one of whom has already gone on a hunger strike, said their imprisonment was completely illegal.

Dissident forces in Yerevan, including the Armenian National Congress and Heritage parties condemned the government's unwarranted push aimed at passivating the hardline opposition force ahead of the April 24 "Armenian genocide" celebrations.

The Armenian government's overwhelming assault against the opposition powers, which is being widely observed in Armenia, started since the popular dissent leader Gagik Tsarukyan and his Prosperous Armenia party's destruction.

Unlike Tsarukyan's considerably calm warnings, the Founding Parliament has come up with obvious anti-regime intentions setting President Serzh Sargsyan's overthrow as its ultimate goal. Apparently, the radical dissidents' daredevil appearance on the country's political stage has flown in the face of top rulers ending up in reckless campaign of the government.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/139774.html

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