“In the evening, on September 19, I was walking up the stairs and about 20-30 meters away the entrance I already realized that they recognized me. I had an invitation card from my diasporan friends, who were participating in the conference. I could not enter, since the police did not allow me, explaining that my name was not in the list. I started my campaign right there, for the discrimination between me and others, as people came and went in freely”, said Syuzan Simonyan, coordinator of the “Armenian Women Front” initiative, who was detained on September 20 for distributing leaflets about Jirair Sefilian and Karo Yeghnukyan in the presence of the participants of the Armenia-Diaspora forum.
According to her, they failed to arrest her on the same day, since she asked the people around her not to let her alone while reading the texts on the leaflets, and diasporans did not allow the police to arrest her.
Instead, on the next day, when they gathered around the buses transporting diasporans, Syuzan Simonyan noticed that a large number of police officers surrounded the buses. And she immediately opened the posters with the pictures of two diasporan political prisoners, Jirair Sefilian and Garo Yeghnukyan, and shouted, whether the diasporans were aware of two diasporan political prisoners in Armenia. After that the police surrounded Syuzan Simonyan and pushed her away from the area, trying to seize Jirair Sefilian’s picture, and they even hit Syuzan Simonyan’s head on the car because of carelessness while arresting her.
Ruzanna Yeghnukyan was also taken to the police station by the police from the Republic Square on suspicion of carrying and placing explosives. Her three children were with her, and one of them, Hripsime Yeghnukyan noted, that she demands public apology from the police for defaming her. “This is a persecution of our family and the people who want to speak out about political prisoners”.
Other participants of the action were detained with them too.
Photo by “Noyan Tapan” news agency
Anush MATEVOSYAN
