"Democratic" Armenia's humiliated human rights "Crusade" against lawyers, persecutions, police brutalities

The human rights violations in Armenia were put under the spotlight in a recent extraordinary report published by the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, an Armenian branch of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

The report, according to the Armenian media, focuses on human rights abuses registered in Armenia in the first half of 2023, including the intensity of the tortures, violence against citizens and lawyers accompanied by new manifestations of impunity and patronage.

According to the document, the authorities of the country continued to tighten grip on the judiciary system by persecuting and removing the judges who they thought were not acting in line with their demands. For instance, on February 27, the Supreme Judicial Council terminated the powers of judge Zaruhi Nakhshkaryan as part of disciplinary proceedings initiated based on the Armenian justice minister’s petition.

Nakhshkaryan was punished due to her comments regarding the proceedings against judge Anna Pilosyan, who were stripped of power in 2022 on the basis of a significant disciplinary violation. Nakhshkaryan defended Pilosyan, noting that judges work under overload conditions, which triggered proceedings by the Supreme Judicial Council to oust her out of the judiciary system.

Zaruhi Nakhshkaryan at a court hearing over her removal from the office

On June 13, another disciplinary proceeding was initiated at the Central Court of Justice against Judge Davit Harutyunyan of the Yerevan Court of Common Jurisdiction. Harutunyan was put at the target for his interview, during which he criticized the Supreme Court for terminating the powers of more than 20 judges in half a year, expressing scepticism about the court’s impartiality. Harutyunyan's powers were terminated on July 3 at an open court session, which journalists were not allowed to attend.

The “crusade” against the judges in Armenia triggered the adoption of a statement by the European Union of Judges adopted on issues affecting the independence of the judiciary in the country. Among other considerations, the statement criticized the election of non-judge members of the SC by the parliamentary majority without revealing the basis of their selection, which gives reason to believe that their appointment was politically motivated.

Police violence and torture

In the first half of 2023, multiple cases of torture and violence by the police were recorded involving high-ranking officials of the law enforcement system in brutal interrogation methods.

On April 10, Arsen Ghaitmazyan, the head of Dilijan Province police's criminal investigation department, beat Araz Amiryan, a waiter at a restaurant-hotel complex. The incident was recorded on cameras in the hotel’s kitchen. According to the Amiryan’s lawyer, Ghaitmazyan was drunk and explained his brutality with the demand for payment in advance for staying at the hotel. The conflict broke out after a police official protested saying “he would pay whenever he wants”.

In another police brutality case, on June 17, after conducting a search at his house, police officers took Tigran Arakelyan, a former member of the opposition Armenian National Congress Party, to the Investigative Committee and tortured him. The motives for his forcible transfer to the police committee were "extortion and aiding the publication of defamatory information about officials".

According to Arakeylan’s report, Azat Gevorgyan, head of Armenia’s Investigative Committee's investigative department in Yerevan, and Argishti Kyaramyan, the chairman of the country’s Investigative Committee, beat him personally, electrocuted his wet body, threatened to throw him out of the window. Following the torture, the police forced him to change his bloodstained clothes to cover up the incident.

According to Arakelyan, Kyaramyan personally threatened his family, saying that he will not see his wife and child again, that his family will be destroyed.

Violence against lawyers

In 2023, lawyers in Armenia also suffered police violence. On February 9, lawyers Marzpet Avagyan and Emanuel Ananyan were beaten in the Erebuni department of the police. According to the latter, police officer used insults while confronting his attempts to justify a minor defendant. In the corridor, Avagyan demanded clarifications from the operator, but the police twisted his arms and beat him and Avanyan. Meanwhile, according to the minor defendant, the policemen covered his head with clothes and put their feet on his head. 

On June 7, lawyer Karen Alaverdyan was subjected to violence at the Kentron Police Department. After the end of Alaverdyan's court session, more than 20 police officers from different departments and the patrol service of Yerevan approached him and his client on the street, inviting them to the police station.

The defendant agreed and was taken to the Central Department in a patrol car. Alaverdyan followed them, however, they did not allow him to enter for 5-10 minutes. When the lawyer finally managed to reach the client, he heard him screaming from behind the door, protesting torture. Entering the office.

Alaverdyan saw his client handcuffed on the ground, being beaten by five or six policemen. The lawyer tried to intervene and stand between him and the police, demanding to stop the violence. The police removed the lawyer by force, chained him and used tear gas. Alaverdyan was arrested and held in custody for 6 hours without notifying the President of the Chamber of Advocates violating the respective requirement of the law. As for the defendant, he had many injuries, his eardrum was damaged, and there were cigarette burns on his face.

In 2023 Regarding the cases of physical violence and insults against lawyers, the European Council of Advocates and Lawyers Unions expressed deep concern in letters addressed to Armenia’s president and called for a full and impartial investigation into the incidents.

In the meantime, to hide the traces of the incidents in the police stations, the Interior Ministry of the country removed the cameras, purchased with EU funds, that were installed in the police stations, including in the interrogation rooms.

Political persecution

Politically motivated persecution of public, political, and military figures continues in Armenia. In the first six months of this year, the criminal cases initiated against the opposition figures for political reasons are in progress, except for the case of Igor Khachaturov.

Major General Khachaturov was arrested on May 16. The events were preceded by the petition of Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan in the National Assembly to initiate criminal prosecution against the former Minister of Defense, the head of the “Armenia” faction, Seyran Ohanyan, who was linked with the case of land expropriation belonging to the Defence Ministry 14 years ago.

According to the prosecutor's office, the land was actually sold to Khachaturov, who mortgaged it for 18 million drams (US$ 47,000 in current rates) and thus carried out "money laundering".

Note that Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan served as an assistant to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan before taking her new role.

Criminal prosecutions against the Khachaturov family started back in 2018 immediately after Pashinyan’s rise to power. The prime minister ordered the National Security Service director Artur Vanetsyan and the head of the Security Service Sasun Khachatryan to detain the general. In 2022, Khachaturov was arrested during the opposition demonstrations held in May.

Armenia’s former Minister of Education, Science, Armen Ashotyan also faced political persecution. He was detained based on charges of abuse of power and money laundering while holding the position of the chairman of the board of trustees of Yerevan State Medical University, as well as serving as a minister.

Ashotyan was said to urge university rector Mikael Narimanyan to buy apartments from the "Tsovasar" hotel complex belonging to the family of Ishkhan Saghatelyan, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia.

Police detain Armen Ashotyan

After his arrest, Ashotyan's lawyer Tigran Atanesyan presented a number of information regarding the case, particularly that the apartments purchased on behalf of the medical university are still in the university's balance sheet, and their market value has even increased. According to him, the circumstances of the case against his client exclude the legality of both money laundering and other charges.

Incidents involving government officials and their relatives

In addition to the described violence and persecution, the report of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia also highlighted a number of recorded cases of contemptuous attitude towards human rights, which took place with the participation of high-ranking officials and their relatives.

On April 2, an Armenian diaspora member, a Canadian citizen Karen Mkrtchyan, seeing the Parliament’s Speaker Alen Simonyan, called him a "traitor". The speaker's bodyguards immediately Mkrtchyan, after which Simonyan cursed and spat in his face. Simonyan did not apologize to Mkrtchyan, instead, in a post on his Facebook account, he expressed that he was sorry for getting upset because of the insult and apologized to the citizens of Armenia.

In another case, seeing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan near the office of the ruling "Civil Contract" party on April 25, Armenian citizen Samvel Vardanyan called him a "traitor, after which he was taken into custody after which he was suspected of carrying cold weapons. After the incident, Vardanyan, who worked as a hotel administrator, was fired by his employer due to fear of problems that might appear because of his relations with the authorities. 

The incident between Gayane Hakobyan, the mother of Zhora Martirosyan, who died in the Artsakh war, and Ashot Pashinyan, the son of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was arguably the most scandalous event featuring a high-ranking official’s relative in 2023. "Call of Sons" NGO members, including Hakobyan, kidnapped Ashot Pashinyan in the daytime in one of the streets of the capital Yerevan.

Pashinyan later revealed that he has managed to escape by jumping out of the steered by Hakobyan. Shortly after the incident, Hakobyan and two other parents of the fallen servicemen were detained by the police. On May 20, Hakobyan was arrested and accused of kidnapping charges. The incident triggered strong public support for the dead soldier’s mother.

Ashot Pashinyan and Gayane Hakobyan

The entire criminal process against Hakobyan, which lasted less than a month, was accompanied by many controversial episodes. Hakobyan sent a message from the "Abovyan" prison, claiming that "all judgments against him are made not in courtrooms, but in Nikol's offices". 

In a nutshell, the latest report by the Helsinki Committee of Armenia once again exposes the human rights abuses, crimes, brutalities, and similar actions taking place in “democratic Armenia” under the government’s aegis. Armenian authorities are all but bragging about being the “exemplary democracy” in the South Caucasus, referring to some rankings or indexes. But did the same experience by Nakhshkaryan, Harutunyan, Amiryan, Avagyan, Khacahaturov and others? The answer is as clear as a blue sky without grey clouds …