Armenia`s authorities plan demining of section near Kirants bridge
ArmInfo. The Kirants-Voskepar road has remained closed for the sixth day in a row. The Tavush residents spend their sixth night on the street trying to convey to the Armenian authorities the unacceptability of unilateral concessions to the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, which make the lives of people living in the border areas impossible.
As villagers told ArmInfo, this morning sappers from the Armenian Ministry of Defense arrived in Kinats to clear the area near the bridge in the village. The villagers are trying in every possible way to hinder the demining work. A large number of police forces have been deployed to the spot. "We must fight. This is not only a question of Tavush, this is a question of our existence. Having finished with Tavush, he (the Prime Minister of Armenia - ed.) will begin to distribute land in Syunik. This process must be stopped," the villagers noted.
And Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev yesterday, again threatening Armenia with war, said that 10-12 km of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border can be considered delimited.
On April 23, late in the evening, special police forces, using brute force, dispersed the protesters who had closed the road in the direction of the Bagratashen checkpoint. A number of citizens were detained. A participant in the protests, retired colonel Mihran Mahsudyan, was injured and was taken to the hospital, where he continues to be. At midnight, all the detainees were released, except for political scientist Suren Petrosyan. He was delivered to Yerevan on April 24.
Yesterday, Member of the Armenian Parliament Taguhi Tovmasyan visited Petrosyan in the pre-trial detention center. "Some time ago I visited Petrosyan, one of the leaders of the struggle for Tavush, who is a political prisoner, a prisoner of principles.
He was not provided with any documents about why he was detained or what charges were brought against him. They were simply isolated and sent to a pre-trial detention center.
Suren Petrosyan assured that the police did not present any legal demands to him, did not make any statements about what they demanded from the assembled citizens.
Suren Petrosyan, on his own behalf, asked to convey to the residents of Voskepar, Kirants, Baganis and other settlements that his temporary isolation cannot stop the fight for the Motherland. This is a national liberation struggle, this is not a political, party issue, and we must go to the end," Tovmasyan quoted the detained political scientist as saying.
Yesterday a number of spontaneous protests took place in Yerevan demanding that the Armenian authorities stop squandering Armenian lands. In the evening, the police used brute force to disperse the rally organized by the National Democratic Pole (NDP). 96 people were detained.