The rapid response groups of the
Office of the Human Rights Defender visited 4 Police divisions in Yerevan
today, providing advice and assistance for realization of the rights of more
than 64 persons.
During the visits, several
violations were recorded, in particular:
1. The practice of apprehending
people by squeezing their throats and strangling them during the process was a
common problem raised by apprehended citizens during quick response visits. In
another case, according to the citizens who were subjected to administrative
arrest, Police servicemen did not put, but threw them in the Police vehicles
during the apprehending process, and cursed at them after they were already in
the vehicle.
The Defender notes that in relation
to the above-mentioned, letters will be addressed to the relevant bodies to
make the mentioned incidents the subject of investigation. At the same time,
the Defender notes that Police servicemen should refrain from using force not
conditioned by the apprehending process and which excess often minimum
required, and refrain from committing acts which insult and degrade persons
during the administrative arrest. Such
practice is simply unacceptable.
2. A number of citizens brought from
Kanaker-Zeytun administrative district stated that after Police servicemen
demanded from the street to allow for the movement of traffic, they did not
give the sufficient time to comply with that demand, especially after the
citizens asked for 5 minutes to comply with the demand.
In this regard, the Defender notes
that the Police should provide the citizens the necessary reasonable time to
comply with their demands, otherwise, a situation rises where the demand is an
end in itself, or it intends to create the necessary grounds to conduct
administrative arrests.
At the same time, the organizers of
the assemblies are obliged to ensure and organize reasonable efforts to ensure
that the participants of the assemblies comply with the legal demands of the
Police within a reasonable period of time.
3. In one of the Police divisions in
Yerevan, the rapid response groups of the Defender registered a case where
persons who were subjected to administrative arrest was not registered in
“registry of persons brought to the Police division”, on the grounds that the latter
did not introduce themselves, and did not provide information about themselves
to the Police servicemen.
In this regard, the Defender finds
that such an approach is not justified, and regardless of the fact whether
citizens introduce themselves or not, their entry, exit, receipt of medical
assistance and other circumstances should be registered in the mentioned
registry.
4. As a result of the monitoring of
the publications of mass media outlets the incident of violence that took place
in Gyumri city was registered, where on 08/05/2022, persons protesting through
a convoy of vehicles, stopped, got into an argument with obviously older
persons, and intensively punched them.
Moreover, the analysis of the video
registers that the protesters outnumbered the older persons, one of whom was
holding a cane.
In this regard, the Defender
stresses that the public actors leading the political protest should condemn
the violence to ensure the normal and peaceful conduct of the current and
future assemblies, and they should cooperate with the law enforcement bodies,
implementing the responsibilities provided for by Article 31 of the Law on
Peaceful Assemblies of Armenia to the organizers of the assemblies.
The monitoring of the Office of the
Human Rights Defender has registered that several public actors who are the
organizers of the assemblies have condemned the use of violence in this
concrete incident. At the same time, the messages of those persons who have a
large public audience justifying the violence committed against the older
persons, is worrying.
This working method is very
dangerous, as it can create the impressions that violence can be justified, and
thus leading to further incidents of violence.
The Human Rights Defender will
ensure that all those guilty of violence during the assemblies and rallies will
be held responsible, irrespective of the status and position of the victims.
5. The analysis of the publications
of mass media outlets have raised issues related to obstructing the
professional activities of journalists who were covering the assemblies by
Police servicemen, where the Police servicemen demanded from the journalist not
to video their activities, and hit the camera of the journalist.
According to the publication, the
badge of the journalist was visible to the Police serviceman.
The Human Rights Defender warns once
again to refrain from obstructing the work of journalists, from committing acts
of violence against them, or threatening them in any way due to their
professional activities.
The Defender will ensure that in
relation to the registered incidents, the guilty parties will be held
responsible.
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