Video of police beating an opposition lawmaker is deemed insufficient to prosecute

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am) – Video of police officers beating an Armenian opposition lawmaker during recent anti-government protests in Yerevan is not sufficient grounds for criminal prosecution, according to Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan.

MP Ashot Simonyan was attacked in May by several dozen members of a special police unit outside the Yerevan headquarters of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a major opposition party involved in protests led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan. An amateur recording of the incident showed them punching, kicking and swearing at Simonyan.

Armenia’s Interior Ministry claimed at the time to have launched an “internal investigation” into the police officers’ behavior, which was condemned by opposition leaders and human rights activists. The ministry announced hours later that one of the officers had subsequently been suspended from the state police.
Another law enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, then opened a criminal case in connection with the incident. So far, no one has been charged.

Agnesa Khamoyan, another lawmaker from the main opposition Hayastan alliance, called on Vardapetyan to explain this fact during a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday that was also attended by other senior law enforcement officials.

“The video is not [sufficient] Evidence,” replied Vardapetyan, who worked as a legal adviser to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan before becoming the country’s chief prosecutor two years ago.
“If there is enough evidence, the decision will be made,” she said. “As I just said, every decision will be made based on sufficient evidence.”

Argishti Kyaramyan, the controversial head of the investigative committee, defended his agency’s failure to charge any of the violent police officers. He said that while the officers’ actions were “clearly visible” in the video of the incident, “the question is how to characterize it.”

Kyaramyan also complained that Simonyan refused to be interviewed by investigators. He claimed that therefore the video should not be used to file criminal charges.

Khamoyan rejected this explanation. She argued that law enforcement in April quickly arrested and prosecuted an opposition activist who insulted pro-government lawmaker Hakob Aslanyan on a public bus in Yerevan.

“The opposition activist was arrested an hour after the incident, before the MP [Aslanyan] filed a complaint,” Khamoyan said.

Simonian was beaten as riot police cleared streets in Yerevan that had been blocked by protesters demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. About 300 of them were arrested that day.

Dozens of other ordinary protesters were also seriously injured by police after Archbishop Galstanyan launched his campaign for regime change on May 9. No police officer was suspended or even prosecuted for these incidents. Instead, authorities have prosecuted at least 59 of Galstanyan’s supporters on various charges they deny.