Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia’s Special Investigation Service (SIS) has declined from filing a lawsuit against Armenian National Congress activist Vardges Gaspari for a statement he made on his Facebook page. In it, Gaspari says that on Nov. 16 he publicly issued a statement on “the crime” carried out by the police in front of the RA General Prosecutor’s office on Nov. 12, in which, according to Gaspari, police pushed and threw him on the ground.
Note that Republic of Armenia law stipulates that any statement made public or reported by the media which speaks to a crime needs to be officially addressed by the SIS.
The SIS, however, on Nov. 27, informed Gaspari of their intention not to sue him. According to Gaspari, the Special Investigation Service based its decision only on police testimonies and did not take into consideration media reports noted in Gaspari’s statement:
“In particular, Azatutyun Radio [RFE/RL’s Armenian service] correspondent’s (Ruzanna Stepanyan) report: ‘One of the police officers pushed and threw on the ground Vardges Gaspari.’ Thus, I demand that the RA General Prosecutor either find additional tricks and present them to relieve the crime, but if he’s unable to do that, then make a decision to file a lawsuit on this crime.”