Epress.am News from Armenia
A little over a dozen activists gathered outside the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Yerevan at around noon on Saturday to ask for the release of Russian opposition leaders and activists, permission to hold peaceful demonstrations and marches, and the end of harassment of freedom of speech in Russia.
Police did not permit demonstrators to protest in front of the embassy gates, urging them to protest across the street instead.
During negotiations between police and activists, Police Lieutenant Haykaz Jomardyan approached the group and informed them that he personally ordered police officers not to allow protestors to approach the embassy as their demonstration might disrupt the embassy’s regular activities.
When activists insisted that such an order is unlawful, Jomardyan said, “Enough; let’s not continue this. I gave this order and no one’s going to cross here.”
Human rights activist Artur Sakunts, one of the demonstrators, informed Epress.am that police actions were unlawful. According to him, the biggest violation is that police don’t wish to provide explanations for their actions, simply saying, “That’s how we decided and that’s it”.
Furthermore, Sakunts continued, this is not the first time this lieutenant has committed such unlawful acts.”We already sent a complaint once to the National Security Service regarding his actions, but it hasn’t been addressed yet,” he said.
Demonstrators held signs with inscriptions such as “Freedom to Yegor Sargsyan, Ilya Yashin, Alexei Navalny”, “Send Churov to the Armenian Central Electoral Commission, they will teach him instant magic”, and “Thanks to the United Russia party, to the two-headed leaders of the nation personally, you held the elections as usual, you flushed freedom down the toilet splendidly”.
Demonstrators said they sent an email to the Russian Embassy, asking for the immediate release of Russian opposition activists.
