Epress.am News from Armenia
A resident of Martuni, Gegharkunik Marz, 2nd degree invalid 31-year old Alik Zakharyan, visited his relative’s grave back in July 19th of this year, when a car with a Defense Ministry license plate pulled up and men with machine guns came out and twisted his arms back and handcuffed him. Zakharyan’s mother, Sona Sahakyan, spoke to forrights.am about the incident.
“They told him he was a Turkish saboteur, bent him down and began to strike him, forced him to drink the dirty water from the stream, beat him, and threw him into the car, and brought him to the military police department. They tormented my son for 5 and half hours with his hands cuffed. My son told them where he is from, whose son he is, and that he is not a Turk. He had an Armenian book with him, but they said a Turk could also have an Armenian book,” told Sona Sahakyan.
According to her, the Military Police staff continued to mock and be violent toward her invalid son at the department; “They pulled his shirt off, they hit him for 10 minutes with his hands tied, they then said that the Turks… they pulled his pants off and riped it to photograph his genitals to convince themselves that he’s a Turk…”
The mother said that they returned her son back home with multiple physical damages, and he was horrified; “When my son came back home, his face was blue, his eyes filled with blood, his pants ripped, my son was unstable and dreadfully afraid. Until today, his facial bones and arms where he was cuffed still hurt, he had multiple physical wounds.”
Sona Sahakyan appealed to the police who advised her not to complain and continued saying that if she protested, it would be worse. “The Head of the Police Criminal Investigation Unit, named Galstyan, Arayik, told me that it’s something, it happened, don’t complain, I had been there too but I didn’t beat him, if it’s necessary we could turn the tables and screw your son over so bad that you’d be amazed”.
The Martuni Police Chief was also against the complaint; “You won’t get anywhere, all you will lose is time and money, and he said that the military police staff hit him.”
The mother also noted that her son is an invalid and had serious issues before, also during his military service.
The article in its entirety at forrights.am, in Armenian.