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A total of 38,500 people have joined Hayakve’s petition campaign in support of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in three weeks, its coordinator Avetik Chalabyan told reporters on Saturday.

The Hayakve ballot initiative started in early July collecting signatures in support of its demands to make Artsakh’s recognition as part of Azerbaijan and the renunciation of the Armenian Genocide recognition campaign crimes punishable by between 10 and 15 years in jail.

The group has to collect at least 50,000 signatures in seven weeks to push the proposed amendments to Armenia’s Criminal Code through the parliament.

“19,870 signatures have been collected in Yerevan and 10,000 others in the county’s regions. 620 people have signed the online petition," Chalabyan said, adding thousands of Armenian citizens living abroad cannot sign the online petition as its access is blocked outside Armenia.

At the same time, he warned of government pressure on public servants not to join the ballot initiative. Chalabyan said four public employees retracted their signatures, fearing job loss.