For Immediate Release
eni18190.htm
Armenia: Civilians Die as Police Suppress Demonstrations and Riots
Authorities Should Swiftly Investigate Use of Lethal Force
(New York, March 2, 2008) – The Armenian government should launch a
prompt and independent investigation into the use of lethal force by
security forces to quell demonstrations and rioting overnight on March
1, 2008, Human Rights Watch said today. The violence occurred after a
20-day state of emergency was declared by President Robert Kocharian in
response to an alleged threat to public order posed by opposition
demonstrators.
Clashes between police and demonstrators in downtown Yerevan, the
capital, on the night of March 1-2 resulted in at least eight deaths,
according to the Armenian Health Ministry. Military forces deployed in
Yerevan helped suppress the protests and riots. The ministry also
reported that at least 131 people – including 57 police – were injured,
some of them seriously. Many demonstrators have been reported missing,
according to journalists and other observers in Yerevan.
"The Armenian government should swiftly investigate whether the police
and army used lethal force against protesters in accordance with
international standards," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia
director at Human Rights Watch. "While the government has a duty to
maintain civic order, lethal force may only be used when strictly
necessary to protect life."
The protests began when tens of thousands of supporters of opposition
presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian took to the streets in
downtown Yerevan on February 20 to denounce the declared election
results and what they alleged to have been electoral fraud (
28.htm
< armeni18128.htm> ). The protests
continued peacefully on Freedom Square for the next 10 days, with some
demonstrators camping out on the square in tents. Early in the morning
on March 1, Armenian security violently dispersed the crowd.
Several demonstrators and eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that
violent clashes started late in the afternoon of March 1, after
demonstrators refused to abide by police instructions to disperse.
Police then shot tracer bullets, allegedly resulting in the first
casualties, including the death of a demonstrator.
Later in the morning of March 1, protesters gathered in front of the
French Embassy in downtown Yerevan. Their numbers grew substantially
during the day, as did the police presence. Observers reported that
police were equipped with rubber truncheons, electric-shock devices, and
water cannons, and that military personnel arrived in armored personnel
carriers. Several journalists present told Human Rights Watch that angry
masses of people prepared for a confrontation with the security forces
by arming themselves with stones, wooden sticks, and iron bars. Another
demonstrator explained that people used nearby park benches and fences
to find metal and wooden objects.
By about 5 or 6 p.m., tens of thousands of people had gathered near the
French Embassy. A demonstrator told Human Rights Watch that the crowd
wanted to march towards the home of Ter-Petrosian, who has been under
effective house arrest since police had cordoned off his home.
Demonstrators made a cordon around the rally area using cars and buses.
Violent clashes broke out, according to eyewitnesses, when a tracer
bullet apparently struck and killed a demonstrator. Angry demonstrators
cried for revenge and attacked the security forces. A local observer who
watched a video recording of the events told Human Rights Watch that the
video showed how demonstrators, demanding revenge, placed the dead body
of a man, apparently in his 50s, on top of a car. Eyewitnesses reported
that demonstrators then attacked police, who retreated. One protestor
told Human Rights Watch how a group of young demonstrators chased
police, set fire to police cars, and broke shop windows.
Persons in the vicinity told Human Rights Watch that they heard weapons
being fired. A local source who watched video footage of the aftermath
of some of the clashes told Human Rights Watch: "I saw thick layers of
blood, parts of human bodies, several dead bodies… at least eight
police cars were on fire… a lot of wounded, who cried for help and
water, a lot of people with open head wounds, claiming that they had
been assaulted by police… I saw also wounded police, a lot of blood,
pools of blood."
"Police and security forces clearly faced an extremely difficult
situation," said Cartner. "But they are still obliged to adhere to
standards for the use of lethal force."
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by
Law Enforcement Officials call upon law enforcement officials in the
dispersal of violent assemblies to use firearms only when less dangerous
means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary.
Lethal force may only be used when strictly unavoidable to protect life
and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these
objectives.
Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned by reports from journalists and
local observers that many demonstrators have gone missing. In the
current state of emergency, with an effective media blackout, relatives
have little access to information about their missing family members.
"Armenian authorities should promptly make the casualty list public, as
well as the names of those arrested and places of detention," said
Cartner. "The authorities should also not use the state of emergency to
unnecessarily restrict freedom of information."
Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
to which Armenia is a party, governments may limit certain ICCPR rights
only during a state of emergency that is declared during a "public
emergency which threatens the life of the nation." Limits on rights and
freedoms may only be to the extent strictly required by the situation.
Governments must at all times guarantee the right to life, the
prohibition against torture and ill-treatment, the right to liberty and
security of person, the right to a fair trial, and freedom of thought,
conscience and religion, among other rights. The European Convention on
Human Rights provides similar protections.