VIDEO: "You Have Nothing to Say?" Sayat Shirinyan to the US Ambassador

This is a direct political persecution, as I have been told to criticize this creature so that I can live peacefully, and so can we. This was stated today, on February 2, during a conversation with journalists in court by former senior officer of the Armenian Police Sayat Shirinyan. It should be noted that a criminal case is underway regarding Shirinyan in court. He is accused under part 1 of Article 226.2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (public calls for violence, public justification or promotion of violence). As a measure of restraint, a signature not to leave the country has been chosen against him.

“They understand very well that certain processes will begin soon. My political persecution is not new. Both today’s trial and future trials will show that the current law enforcement agencies have become a blunt tool of the ruling authorities; there is no dignity or self-respect. The law enforcement bodies are performing servile duties, and then they say, ‘What can we do, sorry, now you know, it’s an order, we’re keeping our homes.’ No, you have simply sold yourselves,” he stated.

According to Shirinyan, the court session regarding his case is based on the testimony of a single police officer: “Moreover, where it has been seen, he cannot point it out, no record has been made, the investigator has interrogated over 20 witnesses, none of them has seen such a record, but based on one police officer’s testimony, they have brought the case to court. I would very much like to see the US ambassador now, when in 2008 the same US ambassador sent a note of protest to the President because I raised my voice slightly against a journalist from Radio Liberty during a press conference. But when my rights and the rights of people like me are violated, we are thrown to the asphalt, kept in detention for months, and in the end, it turns out that the case is closed due to the absence of criminal composition, don’t you have anything to say?”