YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. "We demand that Serzh Sargsyan release immediately Sasun Mikaelian, giving him the opportunity to recover his health in normal, human conditions," is said in the December 2 joint statement of the world-famous conductor Ohan Durian, People's Artist of the USSR Varduhi Varderesian, the opera singer Araks Davtian, and the head of "Agulis" Theatre Yervand Manarian. Learning from press reports that the state of health of the participant in the Artsakh war, commander of "Sasun" detachment Sasun Mikaelian has sharply deteriorated, they express their concern over this fact. "Being familiar with the heroic past of Sasun Mikaelian, we deem it necessary to express our demand to Serzh Sargsyan who today has taken the power into his hands. It is inadmissible to imprison a person for his political views and then to continue persecuting him in prison. There can be no justification for such an inhumane attitide to a hero. What kind of lesson do we teach our coming generations by showing an inhumane attitide? Everybody knows that Sasun Mikaelian lost more than a half of his health on battlefields of the Artsakh war, and over a dozen of splinters still remain in his body. One must not display such indifference to this man's health," the joint statement of the artists reads. Colonel General Gurgen Dalibaltayan and Major General Arkady Ter-Tedevosian ("Commando") have also applied to the Armenian president with the request to release the former deputy of the RA National Assembly Sasun Mikaelian who was sentenced to 8 year's imprisonment for organizing the March 2008 events and illegal keeping of weapons and ammunition. "... the long period in prison has led to a sharp deterioration in the state of health of Sasun Mikaelian, an azatamartik (freedom fighter), a knight of the combat cross of the second degree, a popular commander. Irrespective of the circumstances which resulted in his imprisonment, in fact, a human life is in danger - the life of a man who was greatly dedicated to the Artsakh freedom struggle and the defence of our country's borders. In the given case we are guided not only by humane motives, but also by the high opinion about Sasun Mikaelian's heroic past and his undeniable contribution, to which we were witnesses. Based on the aforesaid, we ask you to exercise your powers of the Armenian president and to petition for Sasun Mikaelian's release from prison because of his ill health". Spokesman for the Armenian president Samvel Farmanian said in this connection: "A convict can be released from prison because of ill health only in cases and by order envisaged by the Armenian legislation". In his words, under the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Armenia, the president is not empowered to present such a petition.

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