Amnesty International on Freedom of Expression and Assembly in Armenia and Police Retaliation

In its 2015 report, Amnesty International expresses concern about the freedom of expression and assembly in Armenia and the suppressive extensive use of force against human rights.

The report says 2015 was marked by growing public discontent and widespread protests around a range of social and political issues. On repeated occasions, police targeted peaceful protesters and largely peaceful gatherings with excessive force and arrests. Activists taking part in anti-government protests continued to face risk of violence from police and pro-government groups.

Amnesty International, especially singles out Smbat Hakobian’s arrest on September 21 who was severely beaten after returning from an anti-government demonstration in Yerevan, sustaining head injuries and broken ribs. The report also points out that an investigation into a similar attack against three protesters in 2014 reached no conclusion in 2015.

The January 15, march towards the Russian Consulate in Gyumri, in retaliation to the murder of a family of six by a Russian soldier is also mentioned in the report as another instance of extensive use of police force. The repost says, “At the time, police in riot gear used truncheons and fired tear gas and stun grenades, while the protesters threw stones in response. Police detained 21 people and released them the following day. Nine protesters and three police officers were reported wounded. Investigation into the incident was opened but was still ongoing at the end of the year.”

Extensive force was also used during the Electric Yerevan movement, Amnesty International points out that “police used excessive force to disperse them, including dousing people with water cannon. In response, some protesters threw water bottles but otherwise the crowd remained peaceful; 237 people were detained and then released without charge. Police also used excessive force against several journalists, confiscating and damaging their equipment, for which they later issued an official apology. Investigation into the incident was still ongoing at the end of the year.”

Another incident mentioned is the unfounded arrest of five members of the Founding Parliament opposition movement on charges of planning mass unrest after they announced their plans to hold an anti-government rally on 24 April. “This was despite the fact that the organizers had secured official permission to hold the rally. On 9 April, a court in Yerevan ruled to remand them for two months. They were released on 4 May, following mass protests in Yerevan, but the criminal proceedings against them were not closed,” says the report. To not, Gevorg Safaryan, one of the five arrested in April was arrested again on New Year’s eve and continues to be held in custody without trial.

The report concludes- Torture and other ill-treatment in police custody and in prisons, as well as impunity for the perpetrators, remained a concern. Local human rights groups highlighted the practice by which law enforcement officials suspected of using torture were often removed temporarily from their positions and later re-appointed to the same, or higher, position in a different police department.

Discrimination against LGBTI individuals remained a concern, in the absence of gender-specific anti-discrimination legislation and amid widespread reports of hate speech.