At a Burbank city corridor sponsored by the ARF WUA Central Committee, the Armenian Authorized Middle government director briefs the neighborhood on ECHR circumstances and the appropriate of return, alongside conferences with Congress, Glendale Metropolis Corridor, the Armenian American Museum, and Armenian faculties

LOS ANGELES. On the invitation of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western United States Central Committee, human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan is within the Los Angeles space this week to advance the authorized and political struggle for Armenian hostages held in Baku and for the forcibly displaced folks of Artsakh.

Sahakyan, Government Director of the Armenian Authorized Middle for Justice and Human Rights and counsel for Armenian detainees earlier than the European Court docket of Human Rights, got here west after keynoting the Armenian Nationwide Committee of America’s Capitol Hill program marking three years since Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleaning of Artsakh. Her Los Angeles program has paired neighborhood briefing with civic advocacy and outreach to the following technology, with additional public applications nonetheless forward.

City corridor in Burbank

On Tuesday night, September 22, neighborhood members crammed the ACF Beshir Mardirossian Youth Middle in Burbank for a city corridor sponsored by the ARF Western United States. Grasp of Ceremonies Annie Bedian opened this system. Levon Baronian, Consultant of the ARF Western United States Central Committee, delivered welcoming remarks on behalf of the group.

ARF Western USA Consultant Levon Baronian

Baronian thanked Sahakyan for her work in protection of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, together with the political and army management of Artsakh, and set the Social gathering’s message in clear phrases: “Artsakh exists.” That affirmation, he harassed, can’t stay a slogan. It’s a every day obligation to work for the liberty of the prisoners, defend the rights of the folks of Artsakh, hold the appropriate of return on the nationwide agenda, and be certain that compelled displacement doesn’t erase a folks’s connection to its homeland.

He mentioned the Diaspora’s establishments exist to serve the Armenian folks, not merely to protect themselves, and that this obligation has grown heavier as the federal government of Armenia has handled the Artsakh query as closed. “When official Armenia retreats from the Artsakh challenge,” Baronian mentioned, “the accountability of the Diaspora and its establishments turns into higher, and our efforts should be doubled and tripled.” He pointed to ongoing ARS and Homenetmen efforts for displaced Artsakh households, faculty visits organized via Central Committee coordination, Sunday’s fundraising program for the authorized protection of the hostages, and an AYF Western United States-led rally in Glendale on November 8 underneath the identical banner: the Artsakh challenge just isn’t closed. Artsakh exists.

Sahakyan then delivered an in depth briefing on worldwide and regional authorized avenues being pursued on behalf of the hostages, together with circumstances earlier than the European Court docket of Human Rights. She addressed the circumstances confronting Armenian detainees, the broader pursuit of accountability, and the persevering with authorized wrestle to guard the rights of the folks of Artsakh, together with these forcibly displaced from their homeland. A substantive question-and-answer session adopted.

Siranush Sahakyan with Annie Bedian

This system concluded with blessing remarks by His Eminence Archbishop Barkev Martirosyan, the longtime former Primate of the Artsakh Diocese.

Civic and institutional conferences

Earlier on Tuesday, Sahakyan met with U.S. Consultant Laura Friedman (CA-30), accompanied by ANCA Western Area Board Member Lara Yeretsian, Esq., ANCA-WR Government Director Ruben Karabetian, and neighborhood member Andranik Aboyan. The delegation pressed the urgency of the Armenian hostages held in Baku, the rights of forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians, and the necessity for continued U.S. engagement.

Left to Proper: Andranik Aboyan, Siranush Sahakyan, Laura Friedman, Lara Yeretsian, Ruben Karabetian

That very same day she met with Glendale Mayor Ardy Ardashes Kassakhian earlier than addressing the Glendale Metropolis Council on the plight of the hostages. Mayor Kassakhian welcomed Sahakyan, expressed the Metropolis’s deep concern for Armenians dealing with persecution in Azerbaijani prisons, and reaffirmed Glendale’s assist for his or her instant launch and for the appropriate of forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians to return to their homeland. Sahakyan outlined the advocacy underway earlier than the European Court docket of Human Rights. Councilmember Elen Asatryan likewise affirmed the Metropolis’s assist for the Armenian Authorized Middle’s efforts.

On Monday, September 21, Sahakyan visited the Armenian American Museum, the place Government Chairman Berdj Karapetian hosted the delegation and led a tour of the Museum’s future house. The go to included dialogue of Artsakh’s historical past and the experiences of its folks. Sahakyan was accompanied by ALC Board members Steven Dadaian, Esq., and Armen Hovannisian, Esq., who additionally serves on the Museum’s Board of Trustees as a consultant of the Armenian Cultural Basis.

Left to Proper: Steve Dadain, Siranush Sahakyan, Berdj Karapetian, Armen Hovannisian

Colleges and the week forward

On Wednesday, September 23, Sahakyan visited Vahan and Anoush Chamlian Armenian Faculty, assembly college students as a part of a Central Committee-coordinated faculty itinerary designed to maintain Artsakh current within the consciousness of the following technology. Visits to Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian Faculty and Holy Martyrs Ferrahian Excessive Faculty are scheduled for Thursday, with AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian Faculty on Friday.

Additionally on Thursday night, September 24, at 5:30 p.m., Sahakyan will current “An Insider’s View: Unpacking Azerbaijan’s Circumstances in opposition to Armenian Civilian Management in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh” at UCLA Faculty of Legislation, Room 1347. This system is hosted by the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA Legislation and co-sponsored by the Armenian Bar Affiliation, the Armenian Authorized Middle, the Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA, UCLA’s Armenian Legislation College students’ Affiliation, and the ANCA Western Area. Admission is free; registration is requested.

On Sunday, September 27, at 5:00 p.m., a “Carry Them Dwelling” fundraising night will likely be held on the Glendale Youth Middle, 211 W. Chestnut Ave., in assist of the authorized fund defending Armenian hostages imprisoned in Baku. Sahakyan would be the featured visitor.

Authorized backdrop

Sahakyan’s Los Angeles appearances come as her worldwide caseload intensifies. Final month she submitted a collective utility to the European Court docket of Human Rights regarding violations of the rights of fifteen Armenians held in Azerbaijan, together with former political and army leaders of Artsakh, following a separate utility within the case of former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, sentenced to twenty years after proceedings she has described as basically illegitimate. She has warned that the prisoners are held in circumstances of “absolute isolation,” with out bodily entry to kin, impartial medical doctors or attorneys, consular representatives, or the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross.

The Armenian Authorized Middle has reiterated its dedication to each out there authorized avenue for freedom, justice, accountability, and the appropriate of the folks of Artsakh to return to their homeland. For the ARF Western United States Central Committee, the week’s message stays the one delivered from the Burbank podium: Artsakh exists, and so long as the rights of its folks, their proper of return, and the destiny of the prisoners stay unresolved, so does the Diaspora’s accountability.