In Prison, They Don't Beat You, But They Break You Mentally: Ashot Minasyan Released Last Night

The legendary commander of the Sisakan detachment, Ashot Minasyan, also known as 'Ashot Iron', is now a free man. The General Jurisdiction Court of Syunik Province, presided over by Judge Boris Bakhshiyan, made a decision yesterday to replace the measure of restraint of Minasyan with bail and a signature not to leave. After transferring the bail amount to the deposit account and submitting the relevant documents to the penitentiary, Minasyan was released from custody last night.

After his release, Minasyan spoke with reporters, stating that the court's decision was expected because the previously formed bubbles burst, and the trial was fair—he believes it will continue in the same way. Minasyan mentioned that he plans to visit the Catholicos to receive a blessing, spend the day with his family, and on January 28, he will visit Yerablur to meet the boys and report to the fallen soldiers.

He noted that the mayor of Goris, Arush Arushanyan, is also being held in one of the cells in Goris penitentiary. 'In prisons, they are tortured, and they suffer—I'm not saying they are beaten; there is no such thing, but there is something else: they break a person mentally. And this was done to Mikhtar Zakaryan from Meghri, Arthur Sargsyan from Sisian, Manvel Paramazyan from Kajaran, the deputy mayor of Goris Menua, and many other boys and everyone else who will come out to tell the truth, to say that the homeland is being destroyed by today's authorities. They will try to silence everyone, to break the whole nation through the leaders. They tell the people: look, we haven't spared the mayor, we haven't spared the deputy, we won't spare you either. Those parts of the nation who understand what the homeland is will not kneel down; they will not bow down,' he stated.