Epress.am News from Armenia
The Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork Marash Administrative Districts of Yerevan, presided over by Judge Gagik Poghosyan, dismissed activist Lala Aslikyan's appeal against a decision made by Special Investigation Service investigator L. Melkonyan. Aslikyan was asking police to launch criminal proceedings; however, the court ruled that there was no crime, wrote [AM] Helsinki Association for Human Rights attorney Gayane Khachatryan.
Aslikyan went to the police concerning an incident that occurred on December 2, 2013, the day of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Armenia. On that day, during a demonstration against Putin's visit, at the intersection of Amiryan and Zakyan streets police officers forcefully shoved several protestors, including Aslikyan, into nearby police vans, where she attempted to record video. One of the officers seized the video camera, after which she was taken out of the vehicle. Asklikyan asked for the video camera back, insisting that it contains important material, but officers took it away from the scene.
Aslikyan submitted a complaint to the police against illegal police actions with the request to punish the guilty. She then submitted the complaint to the Special Investigatory Service, where after the material was reviewed, it was decided that there was no crime in the actions of the police. The RA General Prosecutor also found the complaint unfounded and rejected it.
As Aslikyan told Epress.am earlier, police offered her a deal, promising that they will display "good will" toward her and buy her a new video camera to replace the one they seized from her if she stops complaining and says that police have returned the (original) video camera to her. Aslikyan also said that during the investigation police did not take into account the presence of two witnesses.