In Yerevan, police release about 50 people detained in connection with seizure of police building

In Armenia, about a quarter of all members of the opposition movements, brought to the police stations after a group of armed people seized the building of the police regiment in Yerevan, is released. This was reported by a staff member of the Armenian Ombudsman's Office.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 17, the building of a regiment of the patrol-and-security service of the Armenian police was seized in Yerevan. As a result of the shootout, a policeman was killed, and four other persons were wounded. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by members of the opposition "Constituent Parliament", who demanded to release political prisoners, including their leader Zhirair (Jirair) Sefilyan. The seizure of a police station by supporters of the "Constituent Parliament" was followed by mass detentions of activists.

In total, according to different sources, about 200 people were brought to the police stations.

"Staff members of the Ombudsman's Office visit the police stations where the detainees are brought. At present, as a result of appropriate talks with the police, about 50 people have been released, including David Sanasaryan and Andrias Gukasyan," the "Interfax" quotes the staff member of the Ombudsman's Office as reporting.

Andrias Gukasyan, the leader of the opposition civil initiative "Get up, Armenia!", and David Sanasaryan, a member of the same organization and a member of the Council of Elders, were brought to the police station from Freedom Square in the centre of Yerevan. People came there at the activists' request to discuss the ways out of the situation, resulting from the seizure of the police department in Yerevan by a group of armed people.

As at midnight on July 18, several police officers, including Valery Osipyan, Deputy Chief of the Yerevan Police, and Vardan Yegiazaryan, Deputy Chief of the Police of Armenia, were still held as refugees by supporters of the "Constituent Parliament".

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