Announcement on Police actions in Armenia

On March 25, the ՞Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women” issued a statement regarding the police actions, which condemned the actions of the police officers towards the members of the initiative group “Armenian Women’s Front” and other citizens during the peaceful disobedience action held in support of Gevorg Safaryan on March 24, and the Coalition considers it illegal. Police officers reviled and abused the protesters, in the result of which a member of the ՞Armenian Women’s Front” initiative Ruzan Yeghnukyan got open head injury, a dozens of citizens were detained.

We remind that the law on Freedom of Assembly says that if the march is peaceful, the police are obliged to facilitate the march within its jurisdiction. Even without awareness, but the legal position of the dispersal of peaceful meetings, the impermissibility of such a meeting and the responsibility of the police to support the activists in the meeting was mentioned in the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights. Besides the legal acts regulating the activities of the police when performing their duties prohibit any attitude, position, or any political assessment to the phenomenon, process or persons involved there whereas the action of police officers insulted and vilified the citizens.

We encourage to examine thoroughly the unlawful actions of the police officers of the Special Investigation Service. We demand that the OSCE Yerevan Office should express their opinion on these phenomena, as program implementator for the transformation and modernization of the police. We reaffirm the principle according to which the work of police can be effective only when the police is for human rights protection, to ensure the supremacy of law and high standards of police work.