AZG Armenian Daily #103, 07/06/2005

Long cherished freedom

ARMENIAN PILOTS RELEASED FROM PRISON IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Armenian pilots jailed in Equatorial Guinea with charge of coup d’etat will
return to Yerevan by the end of this week, chairman of the World Armenian
Congress Ara Abrahamian told daily Azg. Here is what Mr. Abrahamian said.

– The Foreign Ministry of Armenia authorized me to take up this issue 3
months ago, on March 15. Before I engaged in the matter, it was the Ministry
that was at work. Despite its great efforts, the pilots were convicted. When
I took up the matter, all of them had been sentenced to long-term
imprisonment (14-24 years). I brought into play all my international ties to
solve the issue the soonest possible. Late Pope John Paul II sent a letter
to the president of Equatorial Guinea. The chairman of UNESCO, Russian
foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, other members of the Russian government and
the ambassador provided great help. We were speaking then of extraditing
them to Armenia to serve their sentence. We wanted to sign such an
agreement. We have been working in this direction for the last 3 months.

Our main task of this period was to care for the health of the prisoners. We
sent them money twice. We sent the ailing to hospital. We kept silent about
all these not to cause the relatives worry. Now we can speak out as they all
have recovered. Our first precondition was their health. I repeat, it was a
very complicated issue, they were already imprisoned. The pilots meanwhile
wrote letters and I brought them to Yerevan. I want to point out the
generosity of Guinean government, particularly the president who granted
pardon and set our pilots free.

– Mr. Abrahamian, where are the pilots now?

– I’ve sent two of our representatives to take them back home. They are now
at the hotel with them. I think the pilots will reach Yerevan by the end of
this week. We want first to land them in Moscow for medical examination and
to send to Armenia in a day or two.

– What were your offers to the government of that country that made them
release our pilots?

– We agreed to help the country in various spheres of economy and social
life. I will provide details in future.

By Ara Martirosian