Andranik Margaryan was born on June 12 , 1949 in Yerevan in what was then the Armenian SSR of the Soviet Union to a family of Armenian Genocide survivors originally from Sasun , Turkey . He studied cybernetics at the Yerevan Polytechnic University and graduated as a computer engineer . He first became engaged in Armenian politics in the late 1970s when he joined an illegal political party , the National Unity Party , that was campaigning for Armenia 's secession from the Soviet Union . He has served on the National Unity Party 's board since 1973 . Margaryan had been a longtime critic of the totalitarian government of the Soviet Union . He envisioned an independent , democratic Armenia . Police arrested him in 1974 and a court sentenced him to two years in Soviet labor camps for proliferating unpatriotic ideas and activities
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Andranik Margaryan