Police Gave Activist a Leaflet Featuring the Words “Armenian SSR”

On November 5, when Suren Sahakyan, an activist and economist, was in custody at the Kentron Police Department, he was given a leaflet beginning with the words “Armenian SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic).” Suren Sahakyan told Epress.am that while in custody, he demanded from the police to tell him what procedures he would be examined under. Sahakyan was then given the latter leaflet, which he refused to read because, he told the police, he had no connection to a Soviet legislative code, because that country had not existed for 23 years.

The Police’s Public Relations Department representative Armen Malkhasyan, commented on the incident, stating that the leaflets containing parts of the Republic of Armenia Administrative Offenses Code, which is given by police to citizens, sometimes contain the word “USSR.”

According to Malkhasyan, the reason behind the wording is that the legislation was accepted during the Soviet years, back in 1985. We noted that the legislation had been reformed and those articles citing the USSR code were no longer in use, to which the police representative responded that some articles have been kept unchanged.

Suren Sahakyan was taken into custody with 8 other activists on November 5 during a rally  in solidarity with political prisoners Shant Harutyunyan and his friends. They 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).