YEREVAN. – The Release the Congress Activists initiative members organize on Friday a protest action in front of the Armenia’s Court of Appeals, which will launch the appeal consideration by four opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) activists, demanding it is inadmissible for Armenia to have political prisoners. They released a statement claiming that the activists are sentenced for imprisonment based on insufficient and false proofs by the authorities’ claims.

Hence, the initiative members state that the verdict passed by the First Instance Court is politically motivated, as the authorities take revenge from the young activists and try to restrain their political and civil activity.

A clash occurred between the ANC activists and police officers on Aug. 9, 2011. Police detained 7 activists and instigated a criminal case bringing charges in hooliganism and violence against authority representative. At the same time, the activists claimed that the police officers have severely beaten them. The First Instance Court sentenced Tigran Arakelyan to 6, Artak Karapetyan to 3, Sargis Gevorgyan and Davit Kiramijyan to 2 years in jail on July 20.