20:10, 9 June 2009

Danielyan: human rights defender beaten by police for the first time in Armenian history

Armenia, Yerevan. Photo of "Caucasian Knot"

The health condition of Arshaluist Akopyan, a representative of the Helsinki Association, who is now in custody in Armenia, is currently normal; he was already visited by advocate Gayane Khachatryan. Mikael Danielyan, human rights activist and chairman of the Helsinki Association told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

According to Mr Danielyan, Arshaluist was violently beaten; he has wounds on his head. "For the first time in history of Armenia a human rights activist was beaten," he has added.

He has also reported today that Akopyan underwent medical examination, and its results are already at the disposal of the Helsinki Association. Mikael Danielyan does not know the date of the trial yet.

According to his story, the Helsinki Association has directed sent notifications about the incident with Arshaluist Akopyan into the Caucasian network of human rights organizations, to Russian, Norwegian and other human rights activists. By now, the Association has received quite a lot of responses and plans to sum them up and present to the public.

Author: Lilit Ovanisyan

Source: CK correspondent