Lifelong Prisoners Appeal to Nikol Pashinyan

Dear Mr. Pashinyan, this is not another Open Letter addressed to you. This is a call - a cry for help on behalf of lifelong prisoners. Just days ago, Armenak Munjoyan, who spent 25 years in captivity, passed away. A man who awaited his pardon with hope and faith.

The voice of the victims of the ominous order of the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, has still not reached its destination. The indefinite situation and the extreme waiting is already disrupting our mental well-being. We can’t predict what fate has in store for us tomorrow. We are all over 40-50 years old now, and we wait every moment for good news. For more than twenty years, we have been surrounded by barbed wire; there are people among us who haven't seen their children grow up but already have grandchildren.

Do not deprive us of the joy of spending the remaining years of our lives with them. Once again, we urge you to reconsider Kocharyan's fatal decision and discuss the pardon requests of lifelong prisoners on your desk. There is no infallible person; we all make mistakes. However, God has given us the right to repent and to seek forgiveness for our sins. We regret the crimes we committed, and we once again remind you that among the lifelong prisoners, there are individuals whose cases are fabricated. It may seem immodest, but there are indeed deserving individuals who should have been free by now.

Dear Mr. Pashinyan, your government has repeatedly stated that there should be an individual approach toward lifelong prisoners. Therefore, we kindly request you not to delay, make the corresponding decision so that we can be home with our families sooner. Believe us, we await your decision every day with a heavy heart, and we believe that it will not be delayed any longer.

On behalf of the lifelong prisoners, Stepan Grigoryan, “Armavir” Prison