”Legal Education and Control” NGO strongly condemns today’s’ events of bringing into investigation the founder of ”VETO” movement Narek Malyan, “Adekvad” party head Arthur Danielyan and other members, the Chairman of ”Civil Consciousness” NGO Narek Samsonyan. In a state governed by the rule of law, any case of deprivation of liberty must be adequately justified, proportionate and non-discriminatory. Moreover, all the safeguards provided by the Constitution and regulations of the Republic of Armenia should be protected. However, hitherto the police have not provided any convincing justification whether they have safeguarded the legal guarantees. Besides, they have not presented any persuasive explanation on the circumstances of investigation.
We think that the lack of proper justification for today’s events will not only prove that the police are carrying out illegal activities, but will also be evidence that these actions are an attempt to silence dissidents and political opponents.
In this context, we would like to emphasize the fact that public officials and civil servants should exercise restraint in every possible way to mitigate statements that may be of a directive in criminal prosecution. In this regard, the statement about deprivation of liberty based on “public demand” by a member of the “My Step” faction of the Yerevan City Council not only violates the principle of restraints but also speaks about the political context of today’s events. We draw the attention of relevant international organizations and structures to the facts, as mentioned above, and human rights violations during these events.
Arpine Hovhannisyan
