According to the Human Rights
Defender of Armenia, the concerns of human rights defenders and non-governmental
organizations, including Freedom House international human rights organization
regarding the criminal prosecution of Mr. Sashik Sultanyan, Chairperson of the
Yezidi Center for Human Rights in Armenia, should be properly taken into consideration
and become the subject of additional discussion by criminal prosecution bodies.
In this regard, the 5th
of August public response of the Prosecutor General's Office to the statements
of human rights defenders and NGOs about the rights of Mr. Sashik Sultanyan,
contains a dangerous emphasis on critical speech or human rights activities and
raises additional concerns. Therefore, a letter from the Office of the Human
Rights Defender requesting additional clarifications will be sent to the
Prosecutor General's Office.
Since the initial stage of
the criminal prosecution of Mr. S. Sultanyan, the Human Rights Defender
initiated the process of protecting his rights on his own initiative. A letter
was addressed to the Prosecutor's Office of Armenia. Concerning Mr. S. Sultanyan’s
rights, a number of international and Armenian organizations have appealed to
the Human Rights Defender regarding the legality of the criminal prosecution
against him. Relevant communication has been initiated with these
organizations.
The justification of the
accusation made against Mr. S. Sultanyan under Article 226, Part 2, Clause 1 of
the Criminal Code of Armenia, which stipulates criminal responsibility for
inciting national, racial or religious enmity, must be demonstrated by concrete
evidence.
The Human Rights Defender
considers it necessary to emphasize that the Yezidis in Armenia have a special
role, and an irreplaceable involvement in public life.
The protection of their
rights is under the immediate attention of the Human Rights Defender.
But
this does not mean that if a person, in this case Mr. Sashik Sultanyan, has
criticized the country on issues that some of its parts do not correspond with
reality in, he should be punished with criminal liability.
Such
issues can easily be resolved by an appropriate response from the competent Government
body to the Armenian or international community, which will confirm or refute
the mentioned criticism.
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