Shant Harutyunyan
| Shant Harutyunyan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Native name | Շանթ Հարությունյան |
| Born |
3 February 1965 Yerevan, Armenia |
| Allegiance |
 Armenia
|
| Commands held | Army of Independence |
| Battles/wars | Nagorno-Karabakh War |
Shant Harutyunyan (Armenian: Շանթ Հարությունյան, born February 3, 1965, in Yerevan) is an Armenian political and public activist. He is the leader of Tseghakron party and the United National Initiative.
He is the son of Shahen Harutyunyan, the founder of National United Party (Armenia).
Harutyunyan was arrested for campaign against the ideology of USSR, and he was freed during the Perestroika as he was recognized as a political prisoner. Since 1988 he participated in the Karabakh movement and the Karabakh War.
In 1997, he graduated from the Law Department of the Yerevan Hrachya Acharyan University.
After March 1 riots he was arrested, then released. He was the only person that was set free after the March 1 riots before being kept in a mental house. After that Harutyunyan announced that he had been taken to a mental hospital by the order of Russian security services.
On November 5, 2013 among with his followers he was arrested in Yerevan for anti-governmental accusations and attempt to walk to the presidential palace to start a "revolution". Fourteen activists were charged with Article 316.2 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (violence against a representative of the authorities). On November 18, 2013 a demonstration took place outside the National Security Service (NSS) building in Yerevan in defense of Harutyunyan and his supporters. Demonstrators also brought signs against Armenia joining the Russian-led Customs Union as Harutyunyan's struggle was also against what he calls Russian imperialism.
He was transferred to the insane hospital. Human Rights Defense organization recognized them as political prisoners. The head of the Helsinki Committee in Armenia, Michael Danielyan considered Shant Harutyunyan a political prisoner as "his activity was politically motivated". Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vandazor office leader Artur Sakunts also believes that Shant Harutyunyan and the other 13 prisoners became Armenia’s “new group of political prisoners”.
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