VAHAGN CHAKHALYAN UNDER DEATH THREAT

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13:33:48 – 24/08/2009

Tchobanyan Institute, France, has voiced concern regarding the
recent developments relating to Vahagn Chakhalyan, a Javakheti-based
Armenian political activist. It wrote a letter to the president of
the France-Georgia friendship group of the French parliament Daniel
Paul. The letter alarms that Vahagn Chakhalyan, the leader of the
democratic movement United Javakheti was arrested in July 2008 in
Georgia and is under threat of death. The letter informs that the
leader of the civic movement is in prison for demanding a status
of administrative language for the Armenian language. The letter
states referring to reliable sources that the Georgian government
may use violence against Vahagn Chakhalyan, especially considering
that on July 31 Chakhalyan was taken from penitentiary 8 of Tbilisi to
penitentiary 2 of Rustavi where it is easier to organize a provocation,
meanwhile the appeal against his verdict is in process.

The letter urges the president of the French-Georgian friendship
group to urge his Georgian counterparts to guarantee the security of
Chakhalyan, as well as his right to fair trial, enabling his advocate
to defend him.