InternationalNikol Pashinian comes out of hiding and turns himself in
Published: Thursday July 02, 2009
Fugitive Nikol Pashinian after he turned himself in, Yerevan, July 1, 2009. . Melik Baghdasarian / Photolure
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Yerevan - On July 1, at approximately 3:00 P.M., Nikol Pashinian, 34, the fugitive editor-in-chief of the popular opposition daily Haykakan Zhamanak, turned himself in at the general prosecutor's office in Yerevan.
Mr. Pashinian, along with member of parliament Khachatur Sukiassian, had gone into hiding immediately following the bloody confrontations of March 1-2, 2008. Armenian law enforcement authorities had been unable to track him down.
Mr. Pashinian was wanted for organizing unauthorized rallies, inciting mass riots, and defying law-enforcement officials.
Police released a video in early March 2008 that shows Mr. Pashinian telling the angry protesters in central Yerevan on March 1: "After my speech, I hope you will separate into four groups. Each group will move toward an entrance [of Miasnikian Square] to reinforce the barricades. If each of us places something on them, we will certainly achieve something. I am appealing to each of you to have something in your hands to organize the resistance - whether that is a piece of wood, rocks, stones, it doesn't matter. Men, you don't know how my heart soared when I heard that you had taken the shields and truncheons away from the police."
In an interview at the entrance of the general prosecutor's office on July 1, Mr. Pashinian denied saying that his heart had soared.
According to Sona Druzyan, the press secretary of the general prosecutor's office, after turning himself in, Mr. Pashinian was arrested and moved to the Yerevan-Kentron maximum security prison.
On June 19, Armenia's National Assembly adopted a decision, proposed by the president, declaring a general amnesty. The general amnesty specifically orders the release of individuals sentenced to up to five years imprisonment "for crimes connected with the events of March 1-2, 2008, in Yerevan." Fugitives who turn themselves in before the end of July are covered by the provision.
If Mr. Pashinian is tried, found guilty, and given a sentence of more than five years, he will not be eligible for release under the amnesty provisions.
