Yesterday the police of the Republic of Armenia released a statement about the rally to be organized by R. Hovhannisyan, the Heritage Party leader, today. The statement reads in particular: “The tendency to take illegal actions, including actions mentioned in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, at the rallies organized by R. Hovhannisyan, a candidate for president, gradually becomes stronger, in which case the peaceful nature of rallies, depending on the course of events, will become partially or completely ineffectual. In that event, the police of the Republic of Armenia will have to perform its other duties. Thus, according to Article 32, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Freedom of Assembly Act of the Republic of Armenia, the police must remove from the place of the gathering those who outrageously disrupt the peaceful and normal progress of the gathering, if it cannot be ensured otherwise.” www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with human rights advocates whether the police threatened R. Hovhannisyan by that, reminding him, as it were, what had happened after the 2008 presidential election. Artur Sakunts, the head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office, stated during a conversation with us that the police’s statement was not proportionate to the actions taken by Raffi Hovhannisyan and his supporters. Then he went into detail: “The fact that police officers accompany during the process of pasting announcements, in some cases tear off those posters and announcement papers is using disproportionate force by the police themselves. As for the inauguration to be organized by R. Hovhannisyan, it is a socio-political event, it has a political goal and is not violent in its nature. Everyone can organize such an event; it is fully in line with the legal requirements for rallies. These can be considered as illegal, if there are calls for violence, hatred, war, and hostility. Therefore, the police give an assessment in advance to actions, about which they don’t know yet whether they will happen or not. I assess the police’s statement as threatening, unlawful, and exceeding their powers. Continuing his thought, A. Sakunts noted: “What Raffi Hovhannisyan does, along with his supporters, is fully in line with exercising one’s right to freedom of assembly. And the police’s actions testify to the fact that they attach more importance to the political content and approach those actions in accordance with that. The police talks about political appropriateness and takes political attitude, which is none of its business.” Vardan Harutyunyan, a human rights advocate and
the manager of the Rights and Freedom Center, said the following about the released statement: “The police have one function; to ensure the security of peaceful events. And the events have been peaceful up to now; therefore, the police should perform their functions and ensure the security of the event. If there are no calls for violence, there is no need for the police to make threats. At least I don’t see that tendency.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
