HY RU EN
Asset 3

Loading

End of content No more pages to load

Your search did not match any articles

Ararat Davtyan

U.S. State Department Report Slams Human Rights Situation in Armenia; RoA Chief of Police Refutes the Charges

On February 25, 2009, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, of the United States Department of State issued its 2008 Human Rights Reports. The report focusing on the state of human rights in Armenia during 2008 was quite critical of the Armenian government’s human rights record for the year and mentioned the events surrounding the March 2008 presidential elections and the events that followed as examples of serious violations. In part, the report reads:

“The government’s human rights record deteriorated significantly during the year, with authorities and their agents committing numerous human rights abuses, particularly in connection with the presidential elections and the government’s suppression of demonstrations that followed. Authorities denied citizens the right to change their government freely and citizens were subject to arrest, detention, and imprisonment for their political activities. Authorities used force, at times lethal, to disperse political demonstrations. Authorities used harassment and intrusive application of bureaucratic measures to intimidate and retaliate against government opponents. Police beat pretrial detainees and failed to provide due process in some cases. The National Security Service (NSS) and the national police force acted with impunity for alleged human rights abuses. Authorities engaged in arbitrary arrest and detention.”

In response to these charges, the RoA Chief of Police, Alik Sargsyan, stated at a press conference held today that, I do not share the views of the authors of the report labeling the actions of the police in the following manner. The police acted within the framework of the law.” He added that it wasn’t correct to turn the police into a target and conclude that “what transpired on March 1, 2008, was solely due to the actions of the police”.

In the words of Police Chief Sargsyan the only fault of the police regarding the events of March 1, 2008, was that they didn’t act quick enough and incorrectly assessed the unfolding situation before them.

“Had the police made the proper assessments of the situation more quickly, if they had more operational units on the ground which would have allowed them to get a better grasp of the situation and to predict the potential for large scale disturbances, I believe that the events of March 1st wouldn’t have happened,” noted Police Chief Sargsyan and added, “We perhaps should view inaction as a crime as well. Perhaps, there was a moment of inaction on the part of the police that allowed things to get out of control. But the police found themselves in a situation that was unforeseen and due to this, why not say it, we to suffered, we also had our deaths in our ranks.”

The U.S. State Department Human Rights Report, in addition to commenting on the flawed Armenian presidential election in 2008, the subsequent demonstrations, the events of March 1st and the State of Emergency declared by former President Robert Kocharyan, also touches on cases of government persecution of political activists, press restrictions, human rights issues in the military and abuses of religious freedom, etc.

The report also quotes a March 21, 2008 “Hetq” article regarding an eye-witness account provided by Grizelda Ghazarian and her daughter Gayaneh, who participated in the post-election opposition rallies, of what transpired on the evening of March 1st.

For full text of U.S. State Department’s Human Rights Report on Armenia

Write a comment

If you found a typo you can notify us by selecting the text area and pressing CTRL+Enter