Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia’s Administrative Court is hearing the cases against a group of young men who in February last year held a solidarity action outside the presidential palace in Yerevan in support of prominent civic activist Vardges Gaspari. The defendants, for their part, have filed a counterclaim, insisting on the illegality of the police actions against them.
In February 2016, after Vardges Gaspari, who was imprisoned at the time, announced that he had been subjected to violence and torture in jail, a group of about ten people gathered outside the presidential residence and lay down on the ground in front of its gates – a tribute to Gaspari’s preferred form of civil disobedience. Authorities subsequently instituted administrative proceedings against the demonstrators, accusing them of disobeying police lawful orders.
On March 15, the Administrative Court held the last hearting on demonstrator Paylak Tevanyan’s case, with the ruling scheduled to be issued on April 4. His lawyer Ara Gharagyozyan said in a conversation with Epress.am that they not only demanded to dismiss the police claim but have also filed a counterclaim; “We believe that the demonstrators’ rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and personal inviolability have been violated. After the illegal detention, lawyers were not even allowed into the police station [to meet with the demonstrators]. We were allowed in only after the arrival of [opposition lawmaker] Nikol Pashinyan, but the administrative proceedings had already been completed, and we could not do anything.”
If Tevanyan’s counterclaim is granted, the young man with file a compensation claim against the police in a civil court. Speaking to Epress.am, Tevanyan said they had submitted a video to the Administrative Court on Wednesday, which shows his lawyer being forcibly prevented from entering the Arabkir police station. “I was detained when I approached the officers to find out which station the others were being taken to. They had no intention of detaining me before that,” Tevanyan added.