Around five dozen individuals and groups have addressed an open letter to the mayors of Yerevan\u2019s twin cities, calling for a temporary suspension of all relations with Yerevan\u2019s City Hall until those responsible for the February 13 violence at the Council of Elders against opposition Yerkir Tsirani members have been held responsible.<\/p>\n
Read the statement below, in full:<\/em><\/p>\n – Honorary Mayor,<\/p>\n The website of Yerevan municipality, capital of the Republic of Armenia, states your city, as one of Yerevan\u2019s twin cities. The municipalities of the two cities have signed an agreement of friendship, partnership and mutual support.<\/p>\n On February 13th, 2018, unprecedented public violence<\/a><\/strong><\/span> was perpetuated against 2 oppositional members of the Council of Yerevan at the council meeting chaired by mayor Taron Margaryan. Marina Khachatryan and Sona Aghekyan of \u201cYerkir Tsirani\u201d oppositional party intended to draw the attention of the municipal council and particularly Mayor Taron Margaryan on the years-long \u00a0neglected<\/a><\/strong><\/span> issue of the residents of Nubarashen District. At the request of fellow citizens, in glass jars they brought samples of the sewer water that was leaking from inside the prison of Nubarashen into the residential areas spreading intolerable odor. The aim was that the council members and the mayor temporarily feel the dire conditions in which the residents of the prison and the residential district lived in and to temporarily give a solution to the long-standing issue. At the herding of Mayor Taron Margaryan, other male council members and staff of the municipality (including Artur Gevorkyan, Davit Ohanyan, Sergey Mkrtchyan, Hovhannes Avanesyan, Edmond Kirakosyan, Vaspurak Martirosyan, Gor Vardanyan) literally \u00a0assaulted Marina Khachatryan and Sona Aghekian, publicly beat them<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, manhandled them, threatened and used sexual swear words against them, exerted sexual abuse and other forms of violence.<\/p>\n Not only did mayor Taron Margaryan not assume responsibility for the violence perpetuated at his command and in his presence, but he subsequently continued<\/a><\/strong><\/span> exercising various administrative repressions against the oppositional women council members. After the violent incident, the municipality has also decided from now on to illegally restrain and bar the presence of media at municipal council meetings.<\/p>\n 10 days have passed after the perpetrated violence, however the Republican Party holding majority seats both at the municipal council and in the parliament of Armenia, has not condemned the violence. On the contrary, it has justified the brutal acts blaming the women council members and making uttery sexist statements. Some media outlets also continue publishing articles directly justifying gender-based violence and sexism.<\/p>\n Armenia\u2019s law enforcement bodies reacted to the acts of violence with a great delay under the influence of public outcry<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and demand. The criminal investigation will be held under Articles of the Criminal Code of Armenia implying mildest punishment.<\/p>\n With this open letter, we, the undersigned, are pleading with you to unilaterally sever or suspend the agreement of friendship signed with the Municipality of Yerevan until the perpetrators of violence and the incumbent mayor Taron Margaryan are held responsible and the current municipal council is changed. Having a sister-city with a violent and corrupt<\/a><\/strong><\/span> mayor and council members does no honor to the administration and population of any city, therefore with call upon you to share our concern and renounce cooperating with a structure perpetrating violence.<\/p>\n Respectfully,<\/p>\n Anna Nikoghosyan<\/p>\n Marine Margaryan<\/p>\n Anna Shahnazaryan<\/p>\n Lucine Talalyan<\/p>\n Susanna Gyulamiryan<\/p>\n Vanadzor Citizen\u2019s Assembly, NGO<\/p>\n Sofya Manukyan<\/p>\n Armine Ishkanian<\/p>\n Nelli Sargsyan<\/p>\n Anahit Sargsyan<\/p>\n Ruzanna Grigoryan<\/p>\n Alex Sardar<\/p>\n Anna Zhamakochyan<\/p>\n Nana Mantasheva<\/p>\n Levon Barseghyan, Gyumri Municipal Council member<\/p>\n Marianna Grigoryan<\/p>\n Women\u2019s Rights House, NGO<\/p>\n Women\u2019s Support Center, NGO<\/p>\n Society Without Violence, NGO<\/p>\n Gevorg Kehyan<\/p>\n Commune<\/p>\n Mariam Kurshudyan<\/p>\n Sevan Petrossian<\/p>\n Anush Khachatryan<\/p>\n Real World, Real People, NGO<\/p>\n Mayranush Davtryan Gevorgyan<\/p>\n Lucine Navasartian<\/p>\n Arpi Balyan<\/p>\n Anahit Simonyan<\/p>\n Nuard Minasyan<\/p>\n Milena Abrahamyan<\/p>\n Vardine Grigoryan<\/p>\n EcoRight, NGO<\/p>\n Elvira Meliksetyan<\/p>\n Karen Hakobyan<\/p>\n Lala Aslikyan<\/p>\n Maral Bavakan<\/p>\n Alisa Qamalyan<\/p>\n Lida Minasyan<\/p>\n For Equal Rights, NGO<\/p>\n \u201cWomen in Black, Armenia\u201d Initiative<\/p>\n Lara Aharonian<\/p>\n Hasmik Gevorgyan<\/p>\n Milena Tadukhepa<\/p>\n Nelli Paytyan<\/p>\n Karine Ghazaryan<\/p>\n Women\u2019s Rights Center, NGO<\/p>\n Tehmine Yenoqyan<\/p>\n Ruzanna Tsaturyan<\/p>\n Sargis Kharazyan<\/p>\n Vahan Ishkhanyan<\/p>\n Zaruhi Hovhannisyan<\/p>\n Lucine Sargsyan<\/p>\n Naka Duli<\/p>\n Ecolur Information Center, NGO<\/p>\n Elmon Yegnukian<\/p>\n Zara Harutyunyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Armenia\u2019s law enforcement bodies reacted to the acts of violence with a great delay under the influence of public outcry and demand. The criminal investigation will be held under …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[65974],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}