On March 31 at the editorial office of “Haykakan Zhamanak” daily the meeting of the heads of several media and human rights organizations was held. The participants reached an agreement for holding permanent joint actions demanding to release Nikol Pashinian, Chief Editor of “Haykakan Zhamanak”. As it has been reported, in January 2010 Nikol Pashinian was found guilty in mass riots of March 1, 2008 in Yerevan, and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. In March 2010 as a result of an amnesty applied the unexpired term of imprisonment of the journalist was cut down by half, making 3 years 10 months and 29 days. Considering that this term is overrated by more than 5 months, Nikol Pashinian contested it at the court of general jurisdictions and Court of Appeal. On February 14, 2011 Nikol Pashinian claimed that since his transfer to “Artik” penitentiary his constitutional rights are being violated: particularly, the prison administration prohibits him from being in correspondence (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, February 11-17, 2011, and February 18-24, 2011).
On April 5 the media heads started the first action. Every day a certain media sends a letter to Nikol Pashinian and publishes or stores it on the website on the same day. Thus, the action participants want to verify whether the Chief Editor of “Haykakan Zhamanak” receive the correspondence addressed to him, and whether his response letters are being delivered.
On April 6 the heads of over 20 media addressed to the RA Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasian requesting a permission of visiting Nikol Pashinian.
On April 7 “Haykakan Zhamanak” informed that the European Court of Human Rights will consider three applications from Nikol Pashinian on a priority basis. This was notified by the ECHR Third Section President Josep Casadevall to the lawyer of Nikol Pashinian, Vahe Grigorian. “Haykakan Zhamanak” explained YPC that this regards the applications sent to the ECHR by Nikol Pashinian in 2010-2011 dealing with his arrest, court litigations and conviction.
