On the instructions of the Human Rights Defender Ms.
Anahit Manasyan, the Defender’s Office is working in an emergency mode as a
result of the protests and assemblies that are taking place in Tavush and other
provinces of Armenia.
The monitoring of media and social platforms is ongoing.
Visits are conducted to Police departments to register the state of ensuring
the rights of apprehended persons on site.
In particular, during the period between April 22 and May
2, on the instructions of the Defender, rapid response groups went to different
units of the Yerevan Police Department, as well as Hrazdan, Ijevan,
Noyemberyan, and Tumanyan Police departments. Moreover, visits were conducted
to the medical centers of Noyemberyan and Ijevan to visit the persons who were
transferred there, and to get acquainted with their health conditions on the
spot.
During this period, the representatives of the Human
Rights Defender held private conversations with more than 170 persons, and the
grounds for depriving them of their liberty, the state of ensuring their
rights, and the rights of the persons deprived of their liberty were clarified.
The Defender specifically emphasizes that the fundamental
right to freedom of assembly refers to peaceful assemblies. Guaranteeing the
peaceful nature of the assemblies is the responsibility of the state. At the
same time, it is crucial that the participants of the assembly, in their turn,
ensure the peaceful course of the assembly, exercise restraint, and comply with
the requirements set by law.
During this period, as a result of rapid response visits,
investigation of received complaints, monitoring of publications in the mass
media, the Office of the Human Rights Defender’s Office registered that the
physical force used by the Police officers when apprehending people in some
cases was allegedly disproportionate; other systemic issues were also
registered.
During the private interviews, the persons specifically
mentioned that disproportionate force was used by the police, and in certain
cases, the police officers did not present any legal demands to the
participants of the assemblies, while the latter were arrested on the basis of
not fulfilling the legal demands of the police officers.
Moreover, the problem of ensuring the minimum rights of
persons subjected to administrative arrest remains unsolved from a systemic
point of view.
Therefore, in certain cases, when depriving persons of
their liberty, the grounds and reasons for it are not presented. In this
context, the most worrisome are the cases when, at the time of depriving
persons of their liberty, it is not specified whether they were arrested on the
basis of an alleged crime or an administrative offense.
The cases of not notifying the person deprived of his/her
liberty about the right to inform the person of their choice (right to phone
call) are also problematic.
The Defender's Office also received a number of
complaints that the vehicles of the people participating in the assembly were
in the specially protected area of the Police for a long period of time without
sufficient grounds.
In all the registered cases, the Human Rights Defender
has appealed to the competent authorities, with the demand to carry out a
detailed and comprehensive investigation, and will also follow up on their
further course.
The Defender underlines once again that the use of
disproportionate force by a police officer is inadmissible under any
circumstances.
The Police officers must refrain from using force,
especially in cases where a person is already under police surveillance, and
there are no other grounds for using force, defined by law. Each case of the
use of disproportionate physical force must be immediately and properly
assessed to prevent the recurrence of such cases.
At the same time, guaranteeing the peaceful course of the
assembly by the participants also implies compliance with the requirements set
by the legislation. It refers, among other things, to abstaining from violence,
calls for violence, and manifestations of hate speech during the assembly,
which cases are also obvious and problematic.
We also inform you that on May 2, mass media spread
information that on the same day the roads leading to Kirants village in Tavush
province were blocked by police officers, and the deputies of the National
Assembly of Armenia, and other persons who were there are not allowed to enter
the village; only the residents of Kirants were allowed to enter the village.
Based on the above-mentioned information, the necessary clarifications were
requested from the police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, with
the request to present the legal grounds for restricting the right of free
movement of persons.
Once again, the Defender urges the competent state
authorities and the participants of the assembly to ensure its peaceful course.
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