Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian National Congress (HAK) activist Tigran Arakelyan submitted a complaint to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts of Yerevan on Mar. 4 to mandate RA Police Chief Alik Sargsyan to publicly apologize.
The complaint refers to an incident on Jul. 5, 2009, when police called Arakelyan to come in as a witness related to an incident on Jul. 1, 2009, in Yerevan. When Arakelyan arrived to the station, he was arrested.
Recall, according to HAK youth activists, on Jul. 1, 2009, they were assaulted on Abovyan street by unknown individuals for distributing leaflets on a Jul. 2 rally, for which the opposition group had a permit.
Arakelyan, along with two of his friends, were taken to hospital with injuries. In Oct. of the same year, Arakelyan was released from police custody, and the nine-month-long criminal prosecution was suspended due to lack of corpus delicti.
Speaking to Epress.am, Arakelyan said that during a press conference on Aug. 21, 2009, the police chief, responding to journalists’ questions, said “it wasn’t the first time that [Tigran Arakelyan] used force on police and he had to be arrested.” Other questions related to Arakelyan, the police chief advised to direct to the court.
“I’ve been justified in court, I’m not considered a criminal, and now I’ve given my issues to the court. And the ‘respectable police chief’ rushed by making his statement and he’s not justified. And now he has to apologize to me before those same media. That too is a requirement of the law,” he said, adding that he is also demanding compensation from the government for moral and material damages.