First personae non gratae in Armenia session to be held today

In the past two years, more than a dozen people have been
declared persona non grata in Armenia. Most of them are ARF members. Thus, they
have gone to court and demand that the ban be lifted. Today, the first session
on that case will take place.

ARF bureau member Mourad Papazian made a statement, noting
that he hopes the court will make the authorities give an explanation for
refusing him entry into Armenia.

“Conflicting versions have been officially put forward
for more than a year. After all, they said that it is a “state
secret”. Now, it is high time they explained the real motives behind this
move made by Nikol Pashinyan. I am not the only one facing this problem. A few
days after I was declared persona non grata, the same fate befell Syune and Masis
Abrahamyan. A few months later, Nzhdeh Garagavoryan, Aslan Askanyan and Areni
Markosyan were refused entry into Armenia. All of them are ARF members. It is
obvious that the fundamental principles of law and democracy have been
violated. Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power under the flag of freedom and
democracy, now keeps trampling on them,” Papazian said.

He noted that he will carry on with his struggle for Armenia
and Artsakh, regardless of any opposition.

“We expect that the legal authorities of Armenia will
make the political authorities uncover the reasons for refusing me entry. The
court session, which will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Aug. 21, will greatly help
determine how democratic a country Armenia is. My will is indomitable. If the
RA legal authorities prove to be unable to solve this problem, I will bring the
case to the European Court of Human Rights and will file a lawsuit against the
RA government,” Papazian said.