Citizens Detained on November 5th Protest Charged with Administrative Offenses

Yesterday, before a rally in solidarity with political prisoners Shant Harutyunyan and his friends, 9 rally participants were taken into custody at the Yerevan Kentron Police Department and were charged with Administrative offenses stipulated by the Administrative Offenses Code, Article 172.2 (for using the streets, sidewalks, and other public places by violating the restriction defined by administrative acts based on the law, or provided for by the law).

Herbert Gevorgyan, Suren Sahakyan, Dvin Isanyans, Ara Petrosyan, Tigran Parsilyan, Artak Gevorgyan, Max Sargsyan and Vahakn Minasyan were all taken into custody during a protest on Mashtots and Sayat Nova Avenues . The protesters held posters with Shant Harutyunyan’s photo and wore Guy Fawkes masks while standing in the middle of crosswalks across the center of downtown Yerevan. Later, they moved to the French Square where the statue of Jules Bastien-Lepage sculpted by Auguste Rodin is placed and stayed there holding their posters without disturbing traffic. Police, however, pushed the protesters toward a nearby bus-stop, where they took them into custody at the Kentron Police Division.

Toward the later evening, police detained Gohar Saroyan during the rally for covering her face with a mask. The police later asked the participants to take the masks off in order for the rally to continue without police obstruction.

The detained citizens were released after spending a few hours at the police station.