Epress.am News from Armenia
Two Armenian National Congress (HAK) youth activists, Sargis and Areg Gevorgyan, as well as HAK foreign relations committee member Vladimir Karapetyan, were asked to come to the Yerevan Central police division yesterday.
Recall that Sargis and Areg were two of four youth who were detained on Nov. 9 while they were demonstrating in front of Golden Tulip Hotel Yerevan. On that day, the youth were holding large signs informing European delegates who had come to attend the two-day EU-Armenia Civil Society Seminar on the Right to a Fair Trial and Independence of the Judiciary at the hotel about the existence of political prisoners in Armenia. A skirmish between activists and police ensued as a result of which four youth were detained then released without charges.
Speaking to Epress.am yesterday, Areg Gevorgyan said that at the station they were questioned, at which point the youth asked “in what activity are they participating,” to which the investigator said “confrontation.” Another police officer was also present during the conversation.
The youth said they decline from participating in unlawful activities. Their decision Areg described as follows:
“We decline from participating in the activity of confrontation of witnesses, since the confrontation takes place if there is conflict with witness testimonies, and since we have not testified, we consider the investigator’s activities to be unlawful.”
Karapetyan, speaking to Epress.am, said the investigator’s work was flawed as he didn’t study the Nov. 9 incidents before 9:30 am. According to Karapetyan, the investigator disregards the police violence that occurred before 9:30 am and attempts to direct the investigation to events after 10 am that day.
“With this, they’re trying to make us look guilty,” he said.
Note that items confiscated from Sargis and Areg Gevorgyan on Nov. 9 were returned to them yesterday.