Activists detained outside Armenian border village released

Sociologist and Hayakve member Armen Khachikyan, as well as other activists who were detained outside an Armenian border village in Tavush Province on Monday, have been set free.

At least 14 protesters were detained while attempting to enter Kirants that is losing part of its territory as a result of the Armenian government’s land surrender to Azerbaijan.

The village remained cordoned off by the police for the second consecutive day in preparation for the handover of border areas to Azerbaijan as part of a delimitation deal.

"I was detained on the border road of Tavush for loving my homeland. To my joy, love for the homeland has not been criminalized yet, so they released me three hours later,” Khachikyan wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

“To be fair, I must say that they treated me very respectfully. Whereas, I was explaining them Lev Gumilev's passionary theory of ethnogenesis with particular cruelty," he added.