YEREVAN. – Armenia second President Robert Kocharyan's imprisonment is a dishonorable action, it is not in the interests of our state, it damages the state's reputation, undermines the judicial system, and ultimately, this concentration by the authorities does not lead to public solidarity, does not allow us to focus on real agendas. Aghvan Vardanyan, coordinator of the freedom committee for Kocharyan, said this at a press conference today.

He recalled that some 100 figures had recently made a statement in support of Robert Kocharyan. "They also hoped that Kocharyan's release would be a signal of public solidarity," Vardanyan said. “In the past two months, a signature campaign has been launched in Armenia, Artsakh and the Internet under this announcement, and today there already are the signatures of about 60,000 people. But there is no change in the position of the authorities; they continue the same viewless style of work.”

According to him, it is obvious that keeping Kocharyan in prison gives nothing to anyone. "We need to get out of this situation," Vardanyan added. “The simplest way out is to commute the second president's pretrial measure [of arrest]. The authorities do not do this by forcing judges to make illegal decisions. The second way remains to make the commuting of the pretrial measure a public, political demand. In response to the demand of 60,000 people, an initiative group has been set up aiming at Robert Kocharyan's freedom."

He added that about 12,000 respective signatures were collected in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).