ARMENIAN SIDE TO CONTINUE DEFENDING ARMENIAN PILOTS IMPRISONED IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6. ARMINFO. The Armenian side has done its best for releasing or at least alleviating the conditions of the 6 Armenian pilots sentenced to 14-24 years in jail in Equatorial Guinea, says Ambassador Sergey Manasaryan.

He says that this is a very delicate issue. Armenia has used all possible ways to have the pilots released this including French and Russian mediation, petitions by Armenia’s President and Catholicos of All Armenians, the issue’s discussion by Equatorial Guinea’s President and Pope John Paul II. Nothing has helped though. Manasaryan says that during his last visit to Malabo he conveyed Pres.Kocharyan’s second petition to his local counterpart together with a draft agreement on the pilots’ extradition. The documents were rejected allegedly because the trial was not over yet.

The Equatorial Guinean authorities have also been asked to provide the Armenian side with proofs of the pilots’ guilt. Manasaryan says that Armenia’s FM Vardan Oskanyan will visit Malabo only provided that the local authorities arrange his meeting with his local counterpart or at least a FM official.

Manasaryan gives several explanations why the verdict on the Armenian pilots is so harsh. The first is the death of the German prisoner. and seonc one is the plane seized by the Equatorial Guinean authorities. Manasaryan says that the verdict is absurd. He has seen the pilots and says that they are held in very hard conditions: they are allowed to move around the jail but they are still in chains. All prisoners are kept like that there except for local ones. The quality of medical is also poor.

The Armenian pilots were given a translator only during interrogation. The local legislation envisaged no bail or one more lawyer.

The pilots’ lawyers has appealed against the verdict. The response is expected in 1.5-2 months but it will hardly be positive. So the Armenian side is considering appealing to international courts. Manasaryan refrains from specifying the dates but says that the pilots may be released within half a year.