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Teenage Armenian Activist Pressured by Police: Forrights․am

The Kanaker-Zeytun department of Yerevan's police, instead of discovering the circumstances and perpetrators of the attack on New Armenia opposition movement teenage member Hovhannes Harutyunyan, has begun putting psychological pressure on the boy's family, Forrights․am writes, citing 16-year-old Harutyunyan's legal representative Varuzhan Avetisyan.

The teenager and his family members, the lawyer said, were constantly being called into the police station and given instructions to behave in ways that conform to the authorities' wishes. As a result, Hovhannes has already withdrawn his complaint, and Avetisyan is convinced the victim will soon change his original testimony and say that the attack had no political motives whatsoever.

The lawyer added that the police have even tried to cast doubt on the fact of the teenager's beating. “I hate having to work with the police, and I don't want them to bother me anymore. I'll ask them to close the case,” the lawyer cited Hovhannes as saying.