ARRESTED ERNEST VARDANIAN’S PARENTS APPLY TO RAU PRESIDENT

Aysor
April 20 2010
Armenia

Within the campaign for support of journalist Ernest Vardanian, who
was jailed in the regional capital of Tiraspol of the unrecognized
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) on April 7, his parents
have applied to president of the Armenian World Congress and Russian
Armenians Union Mr Ara Abrahamian.

"We are writing the letter to the president of the Armenian World
Congress, asking him:

1. to take actions to change the sentencing decision against Vardanian
2. to take actions to provide Ernest Vardanian with right to counsel
3. to take actions to provide an impartial investigation and open
trial 4. to take actions to provide the implementation and using of
the norms and standards of the European Convention on Human Rights."

In their letter the Vardanians also reviewed n details the last
developments in the arrest and trial against their son and wrote down
some Ernest’s biography.

On April 7, a group of armed agents from PMR’s Ministry of State
Security arrested Vardanian at his home in Tiraspol. His wife Irina
Vardanian, who spoke to the press after her husband’s arrest, said
the agents told her he was accused of committing treason against the
PMR for Moldova. According to Article 271 of the internal penal code
of the unrecognized republic, Vardanian faces from 12 to 20 years
if convicted.

Ernest Vardanian was born in 1980 in Armenia’s town of Gyumri; his
family moved to Moldavia Soviet Republic after the deadly Spitak
Earthquake of 1988. Vardanian graduated from the Faculty of Political
Science of the State University of Moldova; he speaks 5 languages;
in 2005 he run for Supreme Council of the PMR, but his campaign failed.

He is one of the founders of the Pridnesrovian Armenians Union and
is a member of the organisation’s board.

He has two children– a 6-year-old son and 9-month-old daughter. Irina
Vardanian and Ernest’s parents were in custody of Ernest Vardanian.

The Vardanians family has faced difficulties as their bank cards were
blocked after Ernest’s arrest.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress