Policy Forum Armenia calls for immediate release of Founding  Parliament movement representative Garo Yegnukian 

ArmInfo. The Policy Forum Armenia (PFA) has issued a statement regarding the arrest and detention of PFA Executive Board Member, opposition Founding  Parliament movement representative Garo Yegnukian. 

The statement posted on the PFA's website reads: "We, the undersigned  members of Academic and Executive Boards of Policy Forum Armenia  (PFA), are gravely concerned that Mr. Yegnukian - a member of PFA's  Executive Board, a repatriated Diaspora activist, intellectual, and  father of five - continues to be held in pre-trial detention since  July 19, 2016 despite the nature of charges brought against him and  deteriorating health conditions.

As we learn from his attorney, Mr. Yegnukian is being accused by the  investigative body for engaging in the following four activities:  On  July 18, 2016, after hearing from the members of the armed group  "Daredevils of Sassoon" that the police were moving armored vehicles  toward the occupied buildings, Mr. Yegnukian publicized that fact on  Facebook; On July 19, 2016, he encouraged the movement of protesters  from Liberty Square toward the area close to the police compound  occupied by the "Daredevils"; Mr. Yegnukian spread disinformation  (suggesting that food provided to the "Daredevils" by the police  might be poisoned), thus discrediting the police; and

He aspired to provide radio communication from outside to the  "Daredevils".

It is our understanding that these activities can in no way be  construed as criminal, including under the Armenian legal code. Such  charges undermine the individual's right of free speech and reinforce  the atmosphere of fear and intimidation in Armenia. Sadly, these  trumped-up charges are merely an excuse for Armenia's law-enforcers  to exercise the much abused right to pre-trial detention used  extensively to stifle political dissent.

Having said this, we join the Armenian Bar Association's Armenian  Rights Watch Committee in condemning the unlawful pre-trial detention  of peaceful protesters in Yerevan, including that of Mr.  Yegnukian.  Our colleague - a well-known civil activist, who contributed so much  to Armenia's independence since late-1980s - should be released from  prison immediately pending trial, if one ever takes place considering  the nature of the above charges.

We call upon Armenia's bilateral and multilateral partners to impress  upon the regime of Serge Sargsyan that systematic repressions of  political activists and dissidents cannot be tolerated and that the  empty rhetoric about "political reform" will no longer be acceptable. 

We stand with the people of Armenia as they continue their struggle  for a more inclusive political system and better governance, against  massive election fraud, systemic corruption, and oligarchy, factors  that have prevented the economy from growing and weakened its  defenses against external threats."   The PFA has also sent this statement to the United Stated Embassy in  Armenia, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, International Federation  for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and Council of Europe's  Human Rights Commissioner.