YEREVAN. - Civil activist Shahen Harutyunyan on Saturday announced that they are ending the sit-in protest in Yerevan’s Liberty Square.

“We are sorry to say that today we ended our sit-in protest in the Liberty Square, and will now again and again look for effective ways of struggle. I’ll write about the rest in turn,” Harutyunyan said.

Along with his friends, Shahen Harutyunyan staged a sti-in in Liberty Square after the death of “Food Provider”Artur Sargsyan. They demanded to bury Sargsyan in Yerablur Military Pantheon,   relieve Armenia’s Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan from his office, and launch a criminal case against the investigator, who motioned for arresting Sargsyan for the second time, as well as against the judge, who made such a decision.

Artur Sargsyan, a.k.a. the Food Provider, died on March 16 at “Armenia” Medical Center, in capital city Yerevan.

Sargsyan, who was charged with aiding the Sasna Tsrer armed group, was released from prison on December 31, 2016, since he had an illness that was incompatible with imprisonment. 

The Sasna Tsrer armed group had taken over a police patrol regiment building in Yerevan, taken hostages, but later surrendered, in July 2016. The violent confrontation, however, had lead to repeated clashes between protesters and police.On July 26, Artur Sargsyan had broken through a police cordon with a vehicle loaded with food, and delivered food to the Sasna Tsrer gunmen.

Sargsyan, 48, was a sculptor and a wood engraver.