According to Artur Sakunts, the head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly’s Vanadzor office, the police started a strange process in July-August of this year: they are carrying out an intensified service of disproportionate actions against citizens. He recalled the events in “Fizgorodok” where citizens, including children, were abused by disproportionate police actions. Artur Sakunts also pointed out the police’s practice of extorting testimonies from residents of the village of Marts.
During an online discussion organized by the Media Center, Mr. Sakunts also recalled the cases of police violence against citizens during the coronavirus emergency. According to him, it seems that the police have been instructed to suppress any action or protest action by the citizens. “And the worst thing is that they go unpunished. Terrorist acts take place when children are already being intimidated. This is unthinkable. The answer to this must be given by the political authorities. This violence cannot be justified for any reason. The illegal actions of the police are also subject to criminal prosecution. If you do not punish the perpetrator, you are involuntarily encouraging violence. No political justification or reasoning is appropriate here even if you say that we have a political opposition that disrupts our work. Do not be disturbed and continue your reforms, change the atmosphere, but continue to keep the atmosphere in the same state that existed before the revolution.”
Representatives of the Special Investigative Service and the police were also invited to the discussion, but they did not participate. According to Zhanna Aleksanyan, President of the Journalists for Human Rights NGO, the authorities rely on law enforcement agencies, and the proof of that is that we do not see any condemnation of the police work, even by the Civil Contract deputies. “The opposition was brought to power by the National Assembly. Let them work together as they wish,” said Ms. Aleksanyan.
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According to Artur Sakunts, the citizens did not give the mandate of violence, for all issues to be solved with violence, especially by the law enforcement bodies against the citizens. “Now the number one issue in Armenia is security. It is not enough that border security is disrupted and we still have serious challenges, but now the security of citizens inside the Republic of Armenia is also endangered. The question arises of who will ensure the security of the citizens inside our country, not in the border areas? Do they at least think about what the consequences might be? In general, the issue of legal security, if it is not guaranteed, the security issues of the state in which the citizens should participate are not guaranteed, but the police by their violent actions eliminate the participation of the citizens in the solution to those security issues.” According to Zhanna Aleksanyan, it is an inhuman approach by the government itself, as every citizen who is subjected to violence today has a relative who died in the 44-day war, or was seriously wounded, or is in captivity, missing, and so on. “Our country is being made an inhuman country, and our people are obsessed with this policy, these manners.”
Lusine Budaghyan
