Armenia: participants of press conference accuse authorities of power pressure on opposition

The Armenian authorities use the police to intimidate their political opponents, and such a phenomenon is typical for authoritarian countries. This was reported by human rights defenders and lawyers at the press conference held in Yerevan on January 13.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in Armenia, starting since December 1, 2015, activists are continuing protests in the centre of Yerevan, including Freedom Square. The recent protest action took place on January 13. Conflicts occasionally occur between the activists and the police.

In contemporary Armenia, the use of power pressure against opponents is a typical phenomenon, and it was initially used yet in 2003-2008, during the second term of Robert Kocharyan. This was stated by Vardan Arutyunyan, Chairman of the public organization "Centre for Rights and Freedoms".

According to him, at present, the Armenian police are a deeply politicized body, which operation does not meet the legal requirements of the country.

The police are used by the authorities to intimidate activists. This opinion was expressed by Arthur Sakunts, Chairman of the Vanadzor Office of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly.

According to Tigran Airapetyan, an advocate of the activists of the opposition movement "New Armenia", the opposition believes that at the New Year's Eve, law enforcers abused their authority in Freedom Square. In particular, it concerns the incident with the detention of Gevorg Safaryan.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.