On August 8, a discussion was held at the Media Center on the subject “Tear gas and torture. Allegations and official denials about the violence of an Artsakh citizen.” The speakers were Roman Yeritsyan, lawyer; Edgar Martirosyan, head of the Human Rights Defender’s Department for the Protection of Rights in Criminal Justice, and Zhanna Aleksanyan, Chairwoman of the “Journalists for Human Rights” NGO.
Lawyer Roman Yeritsyan, who was forcibly displaced from Artsakh, announced a few days ago that his brother Aram Yeritsyan was severely beaten by police officers and taken to the police station with various injuries. Earlier, the court rejected the motion for arrest of A. Yeritsyan as it was recognized illegal, and he was released from the courtroom. Two days later, another motion was filed for his arrest.
According to the explanation of lawyer Roman Yeritsyan, on August 1, his brother parked the car in an unmonitored parking lot and the patrol officers tried to subject him to administrative responsibility, avoiding which Aram Yeritsyan stated that he did not drive the car. “As a result, the patrol officers tried to search him in order to find the ccar keys, and then began to suspect that he wasunder alcohol influence, had a cutting-piercing tool, and demanded him to appear with them at the police station. My brother agreed, but the patrol officers tried to apply a special measure – handcuffing him, to which he opposed. The police used violence against him by using tear gas twice from a very close distance while he was lying on the ground. They forcibly handcuffed him and took him to the police station,” informed the lawyer.
According to him, the main cases of violence were committed in the police station itself. Aram Yeritsyan was dragged, inflicted physical injuries, cursed and blasphemies were also directed at the people of Artsakh in general. The lawyer alerted the HRD and only after 4 hours the victim was taken to the place of detention and then a petition was submitted to the court regarding his detention. The court not only rejected the petition for arrest, but also recognized the arrest as illegal on the grounds that there was no basis for the arrest. Ignoring all this, yesterday, the Investigative Committee again submitted a petition to the court regarding the arrest of Aram Yeritsyan. Moreover, the petition had the same content. Yesterday evening, the petition of the investigator was again rejected by the court act. “At all costs, they tried to arrest my brother in an illegal way, which I associate with my harsh criticism of attorney activity of mine, as well as my harsh criticism of the activities of the patrol service. The patrol officers are obliged not to create this conflict, because they are public servants and must follow the established rules of conduct and not utter inappropriate expressions,” the lawyer said. He also made public videos that clearly show the disproportionate actions of patrol officers, which the court recognized as illegal.
On August 1, the Office of the Human Rights Defender received a complaint from Roman Yeritsyan and immediately took measures to find out A. Yeritsyan’s whereoubouts. This was presented by Edgar Martirosyan, Head in the field of criminal justice of the Human Rights Protection Office. On the same day, the Defender’s rapid response team went to the Arabkir Police Department, had a private interview with A. Yeritsyan, recorded his bodily injuries and sent letters to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the General Prosecutor’s Office.
- Yeritsyan denied receiving information about his brother’s whereabouts from the HRD office, stating that he found out about the location of the victim in another way 25 minutes after gtting the news of his arrest. He is a lawyer, but he was also prevented from entering the Police Department, and although the Defender’s staff made great efforts to resolve this issue, it was unsuccessful. For about 4 hours, the patrol officers prevented the representatives of the HRD rapid reaction group from organizing R. Yeritsyan’s private conversation with his brother. During that entire period, A. Yeritsyan was handcuffed and in poor health condition. They did not allow the entrance of lawyers and deputies to the Investigative Committee as well.
Zhanna Aleksanyan, President of “Journalists for Human Rights” NGO, described the actions of the police and the Investigative Committee as illegal and intentional. She considered the purposeful detention of A. Yeritsyan to be an operation directed by the authorities. “It is terrible when lawyers are not allowed to see the beaten person, the victim. What happened is just a shame. I am sorry for the illegal actions of the police system and how they are filled with hatred even if persons have committed a crime or violation. Grants have been awarded and millions have been spent to reform the police system, but the fact that no police officer is ever punished makes it impossible to achieve change. We always receive reports of violence, but never a policeman has been punished. The Investigative Committee covers up many cases, guided by arbitrariness,” emphasized Zh. Aleksanyan. According to her, the people of Artsakh are especially targeted, as we are witnessing recently with the actions towards the President of Artsakh and mayors. The policy pursued by the authorities in RA is the humiliation of a person through the police and, according to the human rights defender, the political society should have made a statement regarding such illegal actions against A. Yeritsyan, to exclude further violence. “At the time of violence, on June 12, Nikol Pashinyan was talking about legality and proportionality. Under those conditions, how can these police be reformed? It is simply impossible. One doesn’t know how to save a citizen from this predatory and wild attitude. The use of “Zarya 3″ was legalized, that is, citizens should constantly suffer such injuries. Is this your democracy. What do you have to do with democracy at all?” added the human rights defender.
Zara Mayilyan