YEREVAN. – A group of activists on Wednesday welcomed outside the Armenian Presidential Palace—and chanting “Armenia without political prisoners”—OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Confederation President, and Head of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs Didier Burkhalter, who is in Armenia on an official visit.

The activists, upon seeing the Swiss president, exclaimed, in English and French, “Thank you,” “Welcome,” and “Armenia is a country of political prisoners.”

Burkhalter, however, did not respond to the activists, and he solely turned and looked in their direction.

The activists were unable to approach the Switzerland president and hand him two letters in English and French.

One of the letters was a word of thanks to the President of Switzerland for replying to their open letter with a request to assist several political prisoners in Armenia, and for expressing concern about the state of human rights in the country.
The other letter presented the issue of political prisoners in Armenia.