Members of the Congress were protesting in support of the ANC activists outside the Attorney General’s Office today, holding posters saying “Policemen are hooligans,” “No to political persecution” etc.
Sargis Gevorgyan, an ANC activist condemned to imprisonment, stated during a conversation with us that they had appealed to the Supreme Court yesterday, and if they had been only a few hours late, perhaps, they would have been arrested already. The Supreme Court should either take up the appeal or reject it within one month, after which it has to make a decision within a reasonable period of time whether it will reverse the decision of the lower court or leave it unchanged. Sargis had no expectations from the Supreme Court.
In response to our question whether he was ready psychologically to go to prison, Sargis said: “We have been psychologically ready for this from the day we engaged in this struggle. There was no surprise here. We have been ready for the most severe methods, which could be employed against us – imprisonment, use of force – since day one. We have proved many times to the government that we are ready for that fight. We will fight from the prison too.”
Read also
In response to our observation that he could have been an ordinary student, he could have gone to classes, could have avoided engaging in political struggle, and he wouldn’t have been under this threat of imprisonment, whether he didn’t regret that he would lose a few years of his life, he said: “Not at all, because I have never aspired after living a comfortable life, disregarding what is going on the country, disregarding the phenomena that exist in Armenia and just lead Armenia to perdition. I have only benefitted for the past three years in terms of both education and using time efficiently. I now think that each day was for the benefit of Armenia’s future. In that sense, I absolutely don’t regret. Even if 5 more years were required, I would defend that position, anyway.”
In response to our question whether he saw himself in a prison cell, he said: “I have been in a prison cell before. It is a good place to read and to think a little. Although they deprive us of freedom behind bars, we don’t feel like prisoners there, we know well what we are there for and know that we are there, because the government is afraid of the process that is under way now. We will be there, while this government is afraid of us. If that danger disappears, then we are doing something wrong.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
