Armenpress
ARA ABRAHAMIAN VOWS TO BRING SIX ARMENIAN PILOTS BACK HOME FROM EQUATORIAL
GUINEA PRISON
YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS: In an interview with RFE/RL the chairman
of the Union of Russian Armenians, Ara Abrahamian, heralded a soonest
release of six Armenian pilots, sentenced to lengthy prison terms by an
Equatorial Guinea court on dubious coup charges.
Abrahamian revealed that during a recent visit to the West-African
country he had had a series of meetings with its senior government
officials, including also Equatorial Guinea’s longtime president, Teodoro
Obiang Nguema.
Visiting Yerevan earlier this year Ara Abrahamian had vowed to bring the
pilots back in three months. He told RFE/RL that his personal
representatives are now in Equatorial Guinea continuing efforts for the
release of Armenians. He said he had talked African country’s officials into
allowing him to send $500 to each of the pilots and received their
assurances that the pilots would get proper medical assistance. He said
Armenian pilots are in normal condition and there is hope that they will be
back home before June 12.
Armenian foreign affairs minister Vartan Oskanian spent two days in
Equatorial Guinean capital Malabo on February 21-22, holding talks with the
country’s prime minister, foreign minister and chief prosecutor, but failed
to meet with its president. He was allowed to meet with the jailed pilots,
who were arrested in March 2004 and sentenced to between 14 and 24 years’
imprisonment on November 26 on charges of complicity in a reported plot to
topple Obiang.
All six Armenians pleaded not guilty to the accusations. The court
verdict was denounced as “grossly unfair” by Amnesty International. Their
German and Armenian employers also insisted on their innocence.
Back from Equatorial Guinea Oskanian told in Yerevan that he was not
given “definitive answers” regarding the fate of Armenian pilots, but was
promised that its authorities would seriously consider” their liberation.