MIKAEL DANIELIAN RECEIVES FREEDOM DEFENDERS AWARD OF U.S.
Noyan Tapan
Jan 23, 2009
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The Chairman of Helsinki Committee of
Armenia Mikael Danielian received a Freedom Defenders Award at the U.S.
embassy in Yerevan on January 22. The award was instituted by the
former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In the words of the U.S. ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch,
recently Martin Luther King Day was celebrated in the U.S, and the
second anniversary of Hrant Dink’s assassination was marked the
following day. She said that H. Dink followed in M. King’s footsteps
and also struggled for equality, justice and freedom of speech. It
is thanks to efforts of M. King and others that an African American –
Barack Obama has been elected U.S. president for the first time. "There
are advocates of human dignity and human rights in Armenia as well,"
the ambassador stated. Neither the authorities nor the opposition
were considered as able to provide reliable information on the March
1 events, and such information was provided by M. Danielian. He spoke
about police abuses, visited imprisoned people, demanding that they
be given medical services.
M. Damielian in his turn said that Armenia has a long path to pass
toward democracy and the defence of human rights. "Everybody must
realize that human rights are above national and political interests,"
he underlined.