“In your opinion, are there political prisoners in Armenia today?” We have been asking this question since 2018 and, with regret, I must note that the “yes” answer is recording a steady growth at us. Aram Navasardyan, Director of MPG LLC, a full member of Gallup International Association in Armenia, told this to a press conference on Friday, presenting the results of their survey conducted between Tuesday and Thursday.

“Fifty-four percent noted yes, there are political prisoners. We asked those 54 percent to answer, ‘Who do you consider a political prisoner?’ Of that 54 percent, 53 percent noted [former president] Robert Kocharyan, 42.1 percent noted [Prosperous Armenia Party leader] Gagik Tsarukyan, 23.4 percent [Strong Armenia party leader] Samvel Karapetyan, 10.5 percent Archbishop Bagrat [Galstanyan], 5.8 percent [Mother Armenia party leader] Andanik Tevanyan, 5.3 percent [mayor of Gyumri] Vardan Ghukasyan, 4.1 percent [former MP] Aregnaz Manukyan, 2.9 percent [Robert Kocharyan’s son] Sedrak Kocharyan, and 17.5 percent gave other answers,” Navasardyan added

“We see that in the first two places are Robert Kocharyan and Gagik Tsarukyan, who are currently in [pretrial] detention. Samvel Karapetyan and Archbishop Bagrat have recorded lower figures than them because they are under house arrest, and our citizens do not perceive house arrest as imprisonment that much, which is not the case, because in any case they have restrictions," Navasardyan concluded.