In Armenia, Chairman of "Asparez" Club reports about his forced delivery to police

Today in the morning, in the course of the protest action held in Yerevan, Levon Barsegyan, Chairman of the "Asparez" Journalists' Club, located in the city of Gyumri, was taken to the police station in the Yerevan Community "Centre", where he was kept for about three hours and then released.

According to Levon Barsegyan, today early in the morning several policemen have subjected him and one of the activists of the "Asparez" Arno Kur were forced to the police for organizing a protest action against participation of Russian troops in the parade dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenia's independence.

The Chairman of the "Asparez" Club told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that after they had been brought to the police station, law enforcers began asking questions relating to the protest action. "However, I refused to answer them until my advocate arrived; the latter was not let to me for ninety minutes. When the lawyer was let in, the situation was settled: we were released; and now I'm at home in Gyumri," he said.

When asked about a protocol on forced detention, Mr Barsegyan said that according to the existing procedure, such protocol is drawn up, when the detention period at the police station exceeds three hours.

The police station of the Community "Centre" denied the fact that the members of the "Asparez" Club had been brought there by force. According to the version of the police, Barsegyan and Kur were invited to the station for a talk.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that today in the morning, at the monument to Saryan, where traditionally Yerevan painters exhibit their works, a small protest action was held, organized and attended by several persons. The protesters, including Levon Barsegyan and Arno Kur, unrolled the national banner of Armenia and three posters reading: "No to aliens' flag!", "Armenia is not part of Russia!" and "Independent Armenia!"

The young residents of Yerevan who happened to be in the vicinity of the venue told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they were bewildered both with the protest action and with the behaviour of the policemen.

"It is quite obvious that, roughly speaking, the action involved 1.5 persons. Well, what kind of action is it? It's clear that such ideas are strange to our people for the simple reason that Russians protect our safety. On the other hand, the policemen were also wrong: why did they take away their flags and posters, and pushed the scanty protesters into the police car? Nobody would have learnt about this action; while now, once the police took away them to the station, certain noise will appear," said Aram, a student of the Linguistic University.