ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN AND POLICE ARE LYING, INSIST PROTESTORS DETAINED BY POLICE
02.14.2014 20:13 epress.am
The office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Armenia has stopped
considering Emma Sahakyan’s appeal complaining about the use of force
when she was detained on Dec. 2, 2013, and asking for the Ombudsman’s
help. Sahakyan informed Epress.am of this and said that she received
the Ombudsman’s “ridiculous” decision days ago. Sahakyan said the RA
Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan simply sent a request to police,
and in the response the facts were obviously distorted, she said.
“It was noted that allegedly an unknown citizen contacted Arabkir
Police Division and said there will be riots with improvised
explosives at the Marshal Baghramyan metro station, after which the
police implemented the appropriate precautionary and preventative
measures. It also says that with the aim of ensuring the health and
safety of citizens this area was to be evacuated, in the process of
which I too was evacuated,” she said, showing the police explanation
sent to the Ombudsman.
She was quite surprised also by the fact that in his letter Andreasyan
mentioned that she has no permanent residence, a fact which has not
been mentioned at all until now.
“For two years, under the sun, in the rain, wind, and cold, I have
been standing here, and suddenly on the day of [Russian President
Vladimir] Putin’s visit, police officers remembered that weather
conditions didn’t allow me to remain on the street; that’s why ‘police
officers invited and guided [me] to the station.’ They dragged me away,
there were a few of them pushing to get me in the car, they saw that
it wasn’t working, they held my arms and legs, the rest pushing my
back shoved me in the car. Now in the letter they write that Sahakyan
wasn’t detained by use of force,” she said.
On the same day that Sahakyan was picked up by police, another family,
also protesting outside the president’s residence, was also removed
by police.
The Armenian police, addressing both incidents, published a statement
[AM] on its official website: “We received information on December 1,
2013, that Ashot Khudoyan staging a sit-in outside the RA President’s
residence might resort to unpredictable actions; thus, four employees
went to Yerevan’s Baghramyan Avenue and met with Ashot Khudoyan and
his wife Heghine Makaryan, identified themselves and suggested they
leave the area, as the Russian Federation’s president’s official
visit was going to take place at the RA President’s residence.
“Aware of the situation, they along with their 3 minor children sat in
the car provided by police and asked to be taken home, 27 Shahumyan
St. in Vagharshapat [Etchmiadzin]. Upon arrival, the couple reported
having forgotten their 7-month-old in a container at the place of
the sit-in.”
In conversation with the Epress.am correspondent, Makaryan accused the
police of lying. She says at 4 am on Dec. 2 men in civilian clothing
circled the area and at 6 am they detained them with the use of force,
leaving their baby behind.
“They dragged me, my husband, and my three daughters, half-asleep
and barefoot, out onto the street, forced us in the cars and drove
to Etchmiadzin. During the entire time I was shouting that my son was
left behind, among the blankets, but they didn’t pay attention. Later,
after speaking to someone on the telephone, those who detained us
were speaking with one another that ‘we forgot the child’,” she says.
From: Baghdasarian