Author: Emil Lazarian

                                        Tuesday, 
Armenian Police Accused Of Beating Up Another Lawyer
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Lawyer Karen Alaverdian speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, June 
13, 2023.
Another Armenian lawyer on Tuesday claimed to have been beaten up by police 
officers while representing a criminal suspect.
The lawyer, Karen Alaverdian, said he was subjected to “undue physical force,” 
handcuffed and detained after trying to stop several officers kicking and 
punching his client at a police station in Yerevan last week.
The Armenian police launched an internal inquiry into the incident. 
Nevertheless, Alaverdian was charged with “hooliganism” and obstruction of 
legitimate police actions.
The lawyer said that he simply refused to leave the police station after 
intervening to stop the alleged torture of his client who is currently standing 
trial on unspecified criminal charges.
The chairman of Armenia’s Chamber of Advocates, the national bar association, 
voiced support for Alaverdian and said the police had no right to evict him from 
the police station during the suspect’s interrogation. “The lawyer did his job,” 
Simon Babayan told a joint news conference with Alaverdian.
Two other lawyers claimed to have been ill-treated at another Yerevan police 
station in February. They said the violence occurred after their teenage client 
stood by his allegations that he was beaten up in police custody.
The Chamber of Advocates demanded at the time that law-enforcement authorities 
investigate the allegations and prosecute “all guilty persons.” No police 
officer is known to have been charged, fired or subjected to disciplinary action 
over that incident.
Human rights activists say police torture in Armenia remains widespread despite 
police reforms declared by the Armenian government.
A government bill enacted as part of those reforms three years ago called for 
surveillance cameras to be installed inside all police stations -- and their 
interrogation rooms in particular -- by 2023. Only ten police stations were 
equipped with such cameras. They were switched off in last July on then national 
police chief Vahe Ghazarian s orders.
The police said the cameras are no longer needed because under another law 
enacted last year, suspects detained by police officers must be interrogated by 
another law-enforcement body, the Investigative Committee.
Dashnaktsutyun Vows Protests Against ‘Karabakh’s Surrender’
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Dashnaktsutyun party leader Ishkhan Saghatelian speaks during a news 
conference in Yerevan, .
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) said on Tuesday that it 
will join forces with other opposition groups to stage protests against Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s plans to sign a peace deal upholding Azerbaijani 
sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
“What Pashinian announced is not a peace treaty, it’s a new capitulation,” said 
Ishkhan Saghatelian, Dashnaktsutyun’s top leader in Armenia. “If it’s signed, it 
will have disastrous and tragic consequences for the Armenian people. The only 
way to prevent it is to organize a popular revolt and resistance front.”
“Nikol Pashinian has no mandate to hand over Artsakh to Azerbaijan,” he told a 
news conference.
Saghatelian said that his party will try to initiate such a popular movement 
together with other opposition groups, including those not represented in the 
Armenian parliament. The opposition demonstrations will start this summer, he 
said without giving concrete dates.
Saghatelian spoke on behalf of Dashnaktsutyun, rather than the main opposition 
Hayastan alliance, of which his party is a key member. Other Hayastan leaders 
have also condemned Pashinian for effectively recognizing Karabakh as part of 
Azerbaijan. But the alliance headed by former President Robert Kocharian has not 
yet announced plans for renewed antigovernment protests sought by Dashnaktsutyun.
Hayastan and Pativ Unem, the other opposition bloc represented in the 
parliament, jointly staged daily protests in Yerevan in May and June last year 
after Pashinian signaled readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status 
acceptable to his government. They claim to have delayed a “capitulation 
agreement” with Baku despite failing to topple Pashinian.
Saghatelian admitted on Tuesday that the Armenian opposition’s 2022 bid for 
regime change did not attract sufficient popular support. But he expressed 
confidence that the opposition will pull larger crowds this time around.
“Last year, many people did not quite understand what’s going on and accused us 
of fighting for power,” said Saghatelian. “But now, I think, it’s clear to 
everyone that the guy [Pashinian] … is going down the path of making Artsakh a 
part of Azerbaijan.”
Armenia Also Fears Another Escalation In Karabakh
Russian military vehicles roll along a road towards Nagorno-Karabakh, November 
13, 2020.
The Azerbaijani military may be gearing up for another attack on 
Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government claimed on Tuesday.
Tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and “the line of contact” around 
Karabakh have been steadily rising despite major progress reportedly made in 
peace talks between Baku and Yerevan. The conflicting sides accuse each other of 
violating the ceasefire on a virtually daily basis.
Baku regularly claims that Azerbaijani troops opened fire to stop Karabakh 
Armenian forces from fortifying their positions. The authorities in Stepanakert 
dismiss this as a smokescreen for justifying systematic Azerbaijani gunfire at 
Karabakh farmers and their tractors engaged in agricultural work. A senior 
Karabakh official said late last week that Baku may thus be plotting another 
upsurge in violence.
On Saturday, Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov ordered his troops 
stationed in and around Karabakh to be prepared to “thwart provocations at any 
moment.” Hasanov’s ministry issued on Tuesday a statement saying that they stand 
ready to do that.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry pointed, meanwhile, to the “fake news” about 
Armenian ceasefire violations spread by Baku. It said it has “extremely serious 
concerns that Azerbaijan’s military-political leadership … is preparing the 
ground for carrying out fresh aggressive actions and ethnic cleansing in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“We call on the Russian peacekeeping forces to strictly monitor compliance with 
the ceasefire regime and investigate all incidents claimed by Azerbaijan, 
publicly presenting the actual state of affairs,” the ministry added in a 
statement.
It also renewed Yerevan’s calls for the dispatch of an international 
fact-finding mission to Karabakh and the launch of an internationally mediated 
dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry dismissed the Armenian claims and accused 
Armenia of meddling in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs.
“Instead of hindering peace efforts and making false statements, Armenia should 
respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, of which the 
Karabakh region is a part,” it said.
Baku also demanded Yerevan “immediately withdraw Armenian army units from 
Azerbaijan’s territory.” Armenia has repeatedly denied any military presence in 
Karabakh.
The rising tensions contrast with a recent series of peace talks during which 
Armenia and Azerbaijan narrowed their differences on a bilateral peace treaty 
discussed by them.
The foreign ministers of the two states were due to meet in Washington on June 
12 for further U.S.-mediated discussions on the treaty. The Foreign Ministry in 
Yerevan said last week that the meeting was postponed “at the request of the 
Azerbaijani side.”
Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian on Tuesday linked the delay to Turkish 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest visit to Baku.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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