“Dismantle the exploiting system,” “The way out of the stalemate is alternative elections,” “Filter the government” – these are the main demands of Artavazd Vardanyan who went on a hunger strike in front of the Central Election Commission (CEC) building on May 3. A. Vardanyan was also a member of the National Assembly interim commission on March 1. Mr. Vardanyan told how his hunger strike in front of the CEC had been impeded yesterday, “I wanted to put up a tent, but police officers asked me not to fix the tent before they checked it with their management. However, they took away the tent and the umbrella after 20-30 minutes. The legal counselor of the police came afterwards, saying that I could take back my property and put it up in a place, where it would not impede the traffic. And in the evening, when my friends left, I was sleeping in my sleeping bag, someone said my name and it seemed to me that it was my friends and I responded. Probably, they wanted to check my identity. Afterwards, they took me with the sleeping bag, broke the umbrella and put me in a car. They said they were taking me home, the village of Musaler, Echmiadzin. Then they asked me whether the village headman had approached me. So, if the police want to find my kidnappers, it is clear where they should start from.” A. Vardanyan also told that the village headman had continuously tried to convince him not to stay hungry, not to go back, but he had returned again.
A. Vardanyan felt severe pain in his side yesterday and he was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. He was there for four hours. The main demand of the hunger striker is from the intelligentsia and the society so that they offer a model of alternative choice. A. Vardanyan thinks that the society should not be directed to the parliament, but to the young people struggling in Mashtots Park, since they are the humble beginnings of future achievements. www.aravot.am asked Mr. Vardanyan to assess what had happened to him. He stated, “It was undoubtedly a coordinated action. The police, impeding me to put up the tent during this time, tried to solve one problem so that I cannot make my protest – i.e. they prevented me from exercising my civil liberties. They say ‘never mind, let that man get wet,’ this is what they want, so that I am compelled to leave. Thus the government impedes the society that tries to use its rights.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
