During the events of April 9, police officers took in Yervand Harutyunyan, a Heritage Party activist, holding his arms and legs, along with other activists. Surprised at police officers’ actions, he would shout: “Why are you doing this, man, why are you doing this?” There are videos showing that Yervand would even assist police officers, would defend them and would not allow any provoker to hit police officers and cause a clash.
Therefore, a question arises why police officers arrested him too. Today www.aravot.am tried to get an answer to this question from the police information agency. Armen Malkhasyan, an information department official, assured that no one had been taken in; they just took them to the precinct, in accordance with Article 182 of the Administrative Offenses Act, after which they imposed administrative sanctions on them and released them. Article 182 stipulates that “intentional noncompliance with the legitimate order or demand of a police officer or a serviceman while enforcing public order is punishable by a fine at the rate of tenfold to fiftyfold the amount of the minimum wage.” In response to our question why police officers had also taken Yervand Harutyunyan to the precinct, while he had helped police officers and
had impeded provokers, Mr. Malkhasyan said: “For the same reason as the others, in accordance with Article 182 of the Administrative Offenses Act.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
