Source: Human Rights Watch
(Berlin) – A spate of violent attacks against peaceful protesters
appears to be a concerted effort to intimidate activists and should be
effectively investigated, Human Rights Watch said in a September 11,
2013 letter to the Armenia police
chief and to the head of the Special Investigative Service. Officials
should swiftly bring the attackers to justice and make clear that any
violence against people for exercising their right to peaceful protest
will be neither tolerated nor condoned.
Human Rights Watch documented attacks against five activists in three
separate incidents in the past three weeks. In each case, unidentified
men in civilian clothes set upon individual demonstrators late at night
after they left protest sites in Yerevan, either in front of the city
government building or the ruling Republican Party headquarters. The
victims were cut and bruised, and some had concussions or broken bones,
including one whose nose was broken.
“If thugs keep jumping on protesters and beating them up as they leave for home, that’s hardly a coincidence,” said Giorgi Gogia,
senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The police and
other Armenian authorities need to be prepared to make clear that they
are going to put a stop to these attacks, starting with effective
investigations that lead to arrests and prosecutions.”
In all cases Human Rights Watch documented, the police took reports
from the victims, and in one case police went with the victim to the
crime scene. However, the victims told Human Rights Watch that the
investigative authorities did not follow up, even when one of the
victims was able to identify his suspected attackers.
On September 5, about six unidentified assailants attacked Haykak
Arshamyan and Suren Saghatelyan, well-known civil society activists, as
they were returning from a peaceful demonstration in front of the ruling
Republican Party headquarters to protest President Serzh Sargisyan’s
September 3 announcement that Armenia would join the Russia-led customs
union.
The men attacked Arshamyan as he tried to open the garage door in his
courtyard, kicking and beating him. “They did not say anything, not even
cursing, just beating without saying a word,” he said. “I shouted and
tried to understand why they were beating me, but nothing.” When
Saghatelyan tried to get out of the car to help his friend, the
assailants also attacked him: “They hit me with the car door as I tried
to leave, and broke my nose and a finger, my head was also cut.”
Saghatelyan was hospitalized for several days for emergency surgery on
his broken nose, and Arshamyan was treated for multiple bruises that
night and discharged. Police took statements from both men that night,
but they have not informed the men of any further investigatory steps.
On the night of September 4, unidentified assailants attacked Arman
Alexanyan, a 21-year-old Yerevan State University Information Technology
student and civic activist, after he left a sit-in at the Yerevan
municipal building. Several dozen activists have been engaged in
round-the-clock protests after a temporary price increase for municipal
transportation in late July.
As Alexanyan was returning home around midnight, about 10 young men in
civilian clothes attacked him, punching and kicking him and berating him
for taking part in protests. His friends called an ambulance and he was
hospitalized briefly for bruises and bumps on his head. Police took a
statement from him at the hospital, and two days later police asked him
to meet them at the scene for investigation purposes. He identified
several of his suspected attackers to the police, but to the best of his
knowledge, police did not take appropriate steps to apprehend them.
At about 1 a.m. on August 25, about six unidentified assailants
attacked two youth activists, Babken Der Grigoryan and Mihran Margaryan,
in the city center shortly after they left the municipal building
protest. Grigoryan told Human Rights Watch, “They told us, ‘We know you
are coming from the protests’ and started punching us… They punched me
in the chest and body and I fell on the ground as they continued to kick
me.”
The activists’ friends took them to a police station to file an assault
report. More than two weeks later, as far as they have been able to
find out, no criminal case has been opened.
The investigative authorities should take all appropriate measures to
investigate these attacks promptly, thoroughly, and effectively, Human
Rights Watch said. Investigations should involve participation of the
victims and should be conclusive, public, and capable of leading to the
identification and prosecution of the attackers.
“The Armenian authorities need to show that they intend to stop attacks
on peaceful protesters,” Gogia said. “Finding and prosecuting the
attackers in this spate of cases would be a step toward making it clear
that the authorities don’t condone and won’t tolerate this kind of
violence.”