Victims to Sari Tag clashes demand to resume criminal proceedings against law enforcers

The decision on suspension of the criminal case on the use of violence against activists and journalists in the Sari Tag District of Yerevan in July 2016 has been challenged in court. Representative of the victims demanded to resume the investigation and punish the guilty persons.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at night on July 30, 2016, in the Sari Tag District, demonstrators clashed with the police. Journalists were also injured in the clash. In September 2018, it became known about the suspension of the criminal case on the use of violence by law enforcers against activists and journalists.

The victims went to the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia to challenge the decision of the Special Investigation Service to suspend the criminal proceedings. However, the General Prosecutor's Office dismissed the complaint and stated that investigators took all measures to investigate the case comprehensively and objectively, but failed to identify the guilty persons, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed on November 22 by a member of the NGO "Protection of Rights Without Borders", representing the interests of the victims.

In that regard, a complaint was filed to the general jurisdiction court in Yerevan against both the decision of the Special Investigation Service to suspend the criminal proceedings and against the decision of the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia to dismiss the complaint of the victims, the activist noted.

The authors of the complaint believe that during the investigation into the criminal case, the investigators failed to take all necessary investigative actions. The complaint also states that the investigating authority failed to give a proper legal assessment to the use of special means by the law enforcers against journalists and peaceful demonstrators.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 23, 2018 at 03:54 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.