In the summer of 1980, I was standing in a queue at the analogous cinema house in the city of Sukhumi for the film “Pirates of the 20th Century”. I was the third or the fourth in the queue, therefore, I was sure that I will get the ticket. But the woman sitting in the box office, after selling tickets to 2-3 people, slammed her compartment door so by announcing that the tickets are sold out. When I expressed my suspicions on this, the militia “controlling the order” (at that time they were called the police) took me to a separate room and began to “interrogate” about how I dared to complain, also intimidating me to take to the police station for disorderly conduct. Eventually, after “working” with me for half an hour, they forgave me and I was “generously” released. When I came out, people who were worried about my fate, first rejoiced that I luckily escaped, and then explained that 95 percent of the tickets for the films in the “Sukhumi” cinema house that have consumption are sold “to the left” and the “militia” has a share in this business. The “Soviet militia” has not been changed over these 35 years.
People in contemporary Armenia do not want to deal with the police for a very obvious reason – the police practice does not inspire any confidence. Two examples. A few years ago, one of my friends heard some shootings in his yard and decided to demonstrate a “civic consciousness” and alerted the police, for which he strongly regretted, because for the next one year they regularly dragged him to the police station trying to prove that there was no shot. The one who shot, naturally, was not detected. My another acquaintance has left bad at home and fallen on the floor by slightly hitting herself, she was taken to the hospital, the doctors were obligated to report the police. And thus, the investigator interrogated the “victim” and her family members for three times, trying to find contradictions in their testimonies. To the point, this is also a reason why people often do not want to visit doctors officially, knowing that in some cases the police try to make a deal out of nothing. I know cases when the stabbed had not gone to the hospital, being sure that the police would not only fail “detecting” the stabber, if the latter is corresponding “father’s kid”, but can also “overturn” the case against the victim.
I estimate the 60-year-old scientist Hrachik Mirzoyan’s case at the rally in Gyumri in this context. Frankly speaking, I do not care about the political component. The police does not only prevent hooligans, but now it “cannot find” the stabber, although the victim has recognized him, and according to him, the young man’s name is Rubik, dentist Gevorg’s son. It is not Bin Laden, in short, to be sought for months. As long as they are not “detected”, people will have the right to think that the police have a “share” here.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
