On November 26 in the center of Yerevan the heads and representatives of Armenian media organized another action to support Nikol Pashinian, the Chief Editor of “Haykakan Zhamanak” daily. As it has been reported, on January 19, 2010 the court of first jurisdiction found Nikol Pashinian guilty in mass riots of March 1, 2008 in Yerevan, and sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment. On March 9, 2010 the Criminal Court of Appeal, by applying an amnesty on Nikol Pashinian, cut down his unexpired term of imprisonment by half. During his detention at “Kosh” penitentiary a number of incidents happened to Nikol Pashinian. Soon after the incident of the early morning of November 11 the Chief Editor of “Haykakan Zhamanak” was lead to the isolation ward (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, November 19-25, 2010).
The participants of the November 26 action called again the Armenian authorities to release Nikol Pashinian. “Haykakan Zhamanak” of November 30, 2010 published the message of more than 50 representatives of the Armenian Diaspora of USA and Canada, demanding to ensure the security of Nikol Pashinian. On November 30 the Chairman of the Writers Union of Armenia Levon Ananian, the Chairman of the Union of Theatre Workers of Armenia Hakob Ghazanchian and the Chairman of the Architects Union of Armenia Mkrtich Minasian released a statement. The statement noted in particular that it is not befit to Armenia, as a country standing on the path of democracy, to hold a journalist in detention: “Whether we share the political views of the journalist or not, given that his life is in danger, we solicit the Armenian authorities for demonstrating impartiality in this issue.” On December 1 more than 30 Armenian scientists, including 15 Acting Members of the RA National Academy of Science, came up with the same demands.
As reported, on November 30 Nikol Pashinian was transferred from “Kosh” to “Artik” penitentiary. According to the press release of the Criminal Executive Department of RA Ministry of Justice, the reason of transferring Nikol Pashinian to “Artik” penitentiary were “his numerous violations detention conditions”, as well as the conflicts with other prisoners.
