Threats to Kill, Burn, and Rape Members of the Sexual Violence Crisis Center

The Sexual Violence Crisis Center has issued a statement informing that over the past week, the center has been subjected to organized and premeditated attacks by a group of men led by Vahagn Chakhalyan and Haik Aivazyan.

The statement reads:

“Over the past week, the Sexual Violence Crisis Center has been under organized and premeditated attacks by a group of men, led by Vahagn Chakhalyan and Haik Aivazyan.

All members of the organization have been receiving numerous threats, hate speech, and derogatory insults not only on social media but also from various familiar and unfamiliar individuals.

Members of the organization have been threatened with murder, burning, and rape. This has caused significant outrage among the family members, relatives, friends, and especially the beneficiaries of the organization.

We are also receiving calls regarding retaliatory actions against the aforementioned individuals in connection with this terrorism against the organization and individual members, which is naturally unacceptable on our part. However, we want to inform that the situation is now beyond our control.

The full responsibility for inciting division in society through organized manipulation and defamation, provoking hatred, and turning people against each other lies on Vahagn Chakhalyan, Haik Aivazyan, and the other individuals gathered around them.

We would also like to inform that under the current conditions, we are unable to perform our functions satisfactorily and continue to provide psychological, legal, and attorney support to victims of violence to the same extent.

The hotline of the Sexual Violence Crisis Center is also under continuous attack.

We assure, however, that the criminal cases of sexual violence victims we are protecting will continue to be handled by the well-known lawyer Inessa Petrosyan, who collaborates with our organization.

Once again, we urge this group of men to recognize the full burden of responsibility for the situation they have created—turning members of society against each other and, consequently, paving the way for further crimes and acts of violence, even those out of their control.

We urge law enforcement bodies to put an end to this organized terrorism against women human rights defenders and their families and to ensure the safety of organizations and individuals so that they can continue to provide support to women and minors affected by sexual violence.”

Earlier, we reported that a group of citizens had disrupted the presentation of the book “My Body is Personal.” The protesters believe that the book promotes corruption among children.