HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP CALLS ON POLICE CHIEF TO DISCIPLINE BAD COPS OR RESIGN

12:26, August 28, 2013

Levon Nersisyan, who heads the Andrei Sakharove Human Rights Center
in Armenia, has written an open letter to RA Police Chief Valery
Gasparyan, calling on him to either discipline individual police
officers found guilty of using inappropriate force against peaceful
protesters, or else to resign.

The letter comes on the heels on recent incidents in Yerevan in which
police officers have been accused of employing heavy-handed tactics,
including outright intimidation and beating, against activists.

Nersisyan writes that in Armenia the police continue to be used as
a “club” by authorities to intimidate citizens engaged in peaceful
protest.

The human rights defender also accuses Gasparyan of failing to deliver
on his promise to make qualitative changes within the ranks of the
police, adding that recent events give the impression that police
officers are being trained to be more aggressive and hostile when it
comes to dealing with the public.

Nersisyan rhetorically asks how Gasparyan intends to create more
public confidence towards the police given the behaviour of cops over
the past week.

Photo: Police Chief Valery Gasparyan

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress