Levon Nersisyan, who heads the Andrei Sakharove Human Rights Center in Armenia, has written an open letter to RA Police Chief Valery Gasparyan, calling on him to either discipline individual police officers found guilty of using inappropriate force against peaceful protesters, or else to resign.

The letter comes on the heels on recent incidents in Yerevan in which police officers have been accused of employing heavy-handed tactics, including outright intimidation and beating, against activists.

Nersisyan writes that in Armenia the police continue to be used as a “club” by authorities to intimidate citizens engaged in peaceful protest.

The human rights defender also accuses Gasparyan of failing to deliver on his promise to make qualitative changes within the ranks of the police, adding that recent events give the impression that police officers are being trained to be more aggressive and hostile when it comes to dealing with the public.

Nersisyan rhetorically asks how Gasparyan intends to create more public confidence towards the police given the behaviour of cops over the past week.

Photo: Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan