Rights defender demands to inquire into crackdown of protest action in Yerevan

Arthur Sakunts, the head of the Vanadzor Office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, has appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia, stating that during the 2015 dispersal of the action against the increase in electricity tariffs, policemen exceeded their powers in an organized manner.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 10, investigators suspended the proceedings under the case of the dispersal of the above 2015 protest action. The Special Investigating Service (SIS) of Armenia explained it by the fact that no law enforcers had been found who could be charged with abuse of powers or of unjustified use of force.

On March 29, Arthur Sakunts turned to the GPO of Armenia and presented, together with his application demanding to initiate a new criminal case, a package of data about the policemen in civilian clothes, who, during a protest action in Bagramyan Avenue in Yerevan on June 23, 2015, used force against demonstrators and journalists.

In his comment to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, Mr Sakunts noted that all this data was collected after investigators had decided to suspend the opened criminal case, and that all these people work in different police units; and during the 2015 dispersal, they performed similar actions, which indicates that they had been pre-organized.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 30, 2019 at 05:32 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.