Samson Khachatryan’s Arrest Described as Political Persecution

Member of the opposition bloc the Armenian National Congress (HAK) Samson Khachatryan was arrested for suspicions of committing a crime under Article 316 Section 1, for showing resistance to police employees, connected to an incident on Mar. 1, during which time Khachatryan hit a man in civilian clothes who was shoving women participating in the march, Khachatryan’s attorney Ara Zakaryan told Epress.am.

“They’ve transferred him to KPZ [the pre-trial detention center] and within 72 hours, the investigative body will decide whether to appeal to the court with a sanction for arrest or not. He has refused to give a testimony and said that a criminal prosecution is being carried out for his political views, particularly for an article published in [local daily] Chorrord Inqnishkhanutyun [Fourth Self-Authority],” he said.

Also providing an opinion into events was HAK coordinator Levon Zurabyan, speaking to journalists yesterday outside the central investigative division.

“They launched this case for the same episode; I myself was standing there [referring to the Mar. 1 incident], I myself was a witness as to how people in civilian clothes were coming and attacking people — it’s natural that some people also might use self-defense. Thus, without a doubt, this is a police provocation, definitely this is a persecution for political views. As for the fact that they did this [i.e. made the arrest] 12 days later, after Samson Khachatryan’s interview was published in Chorrord Inqnishkhanutyun, proves that they can’t stand even the most basic criticism,” he said.

According to Zurabyan, the authorities are trying to do everything possible to instill fear in people, but in reality, they do everything so “much more people attend rallies more resolutely, for which we can thank the authorities.”