On the day of parliamentary elections on June 7, the situation in Gyumri became tense around the representatives of the opposition. Law enforcement officers detained a number of supporters of the “Strong Armenia” opposition bloc on suspicion of distributing election bribes. Now the police have locked the door of the activists’ apartment from the inside, preventing the defender from attending the actions.
The defender of the interests of the detained citizens warns about the gross violation of procedural norms. According to the lawyer, after taking the three supporters of the alliance to the department, the police officers entered their private house and closed the door from the inside, under the pretext that they were protecting the scene of the incident.
The defense side claims that the protection of the territory should have been carried out exclusively from the outside. Not letting the lawyer in gave him serious concerns that artificial evidence may appear in the apartment in the absence of the landlords and their legal representative. In connection with the violation of the right to inviolability of the apartment, the defender has already sent an urgent alarm to the Office of the Defender of Human Rights. According to preliminary data from the defense side, five to six activists of the given political force were detained in Gyumri.
Let’s remind that on June 7, parliamentary elections are held in Armenia, where the ruling “Civil Agreement” party and a number of opposition forces, including the “Armenia” and “Strong Armenia” blocs, are fighting for seats in the National Assembly. Voting is taking place in conditions of exceptionally high voter activity. as of 5:00 p.m., the turnout was close to 49%, significantly exceeding the 2021 special election data.
The electoral process is accompanied by marked tension. the opposition and independent observers warn about massive violations, use of administrative resources and problems of secrecy of voting. Law enforcement agencies report dozens of incidents and arrests on suspicion of voter bribery and re-voting, while government officials warn to prevent post-election destabilization and any attempt to encroach on the constitutional order with all the strictness of the law.
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