There are no political prisoners in Armenia for nearly 20 years, said Friday Armen Rustamyan, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).

Speaking two days after the FRA has finalized a new agreement to share power with President Serzh Sargsyan, Rostamian has insisted that no one was imprisoned in Armenia for their opinions or political activities since he himself and other members of his party were pursued in the 1990s.

As a result, he added, none of the hundred leaders and opposition supporters arrested during and after the post-election unrest in Yerevan in 2008 was persecuted unfairly and improperly. Only the Council of Europe can determine whether a person arrested is a political prisoner, he said.

“There were no declarations of the Council of Europe to this effect,” he recalled at a news conference. “It is a fact. There is no list of people considered political prisoners. “

In fact, the Council of Europe for years argued that some mass arrests in Armenia in March 2008 were politically motivated.

A few weeks after the bloody suppression of the opposition movement of former President Ter-Petrosian, an ad hoc body representing the organization based in Strasbourg said: “We support the calls of many international organizations seeking the release of those who have been arrested since March 1 because of their political activities. “

In a resolution in April 2008 on Armenia, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) had even demanded “the urgent release of the persons detained on seemingly artificial and politically motivated charges.”

Since, the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, echoed repeatedly these requirements. “It is unacceptable to continue to detain or condemn (…) a person solely because of his political beliefs or non-violent activities,” he advised in a report released in September 2008 on the repression of Armenians.

Rustamian was among dozens of ARF members arrested in 1995, during the presidency Ter-Petrosian’s and sentenced to prison terms on controversial charges of coup. Ter-Petrosian banned the pan-Armenian party strongly opposed him in 1994, accusing it of running a secret squad to his death. Most members of the FRA imprisoned, including Rustamian, were released shortly after Ter-Petrosian resigned in 1998. However, they have never been paid.

The FRA has supported Ter-Petrosian’s successor, Kocharian, and was represented in his government throughout the ten years he was head of state. She first stayed in the government during the arrival of Sarkisian.

The party, which currently holds five seats in the 131 Parliament, left the coalition in power in 2009. Sargsyan was offered to join the government last month after the ratification of the controversial constitutional amendments.