Police Use Violence Against Sasna Tsr Sedrak Nazaryan: Statement

The police have used violence against Sasna Tsr Sedrak Nazaryan. This was stated in a press release by the "Sasna Tsr" party.

The statement reads: "On January 7 of this year, our movement member Sedrak Nazaryan, along with a friend, reached the vicinity of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates located near Victory Park by car (the car was driven by his friend). After they experienced a technical malfunction with the vehicle, they asked an agent of the National Security Service (NSS) who was guarding the embassy area to allow them to enter the nearby parking lot so they could fix the engine without disrupting the traffic and leave the area. The NSS employee responded to this simple human request with insult, leading to a confrontation. Subsequently, the said officer pulled Sedrak Nazaryan and called a police unit.

Sedrak Nazaryan did not physically resist and waited for the police unit. The police unit, consisting of riot police officers, did not even try to understand the situation. The officers shackled Sedrak Nazaryan, and with unnecessary rudeness, they pulled and hit him, literally throwing him onto the floor of the car and taking him to the Kanaker-Zeytun police station. There, another officer in civilian clothes struck Sedrak Nazaryan in the face. Following that, the other officers attacked the handcuffed Sedrak Nazaryan, beating him with their hands and feet, causing him physical pain and injuries.

All of this was accompanied by evident manifestations of malice and revenge against Sedrak Nazaryan through words and insults. The police justified their actions by stating that Sedrak Nazaryan had been a member of the "Sasna Tsr" group and participated in the liberation of the riot police unit. The relevant law enforcement agencies have been informed about the incident, and Sedrak Nazaryan has also filed a report about the crime. However, as of now, we have no information regarding the initiation of a criminal case or, moreover, charges being filed.

What took place, which essentially reiterates the violence against Araik Khandoyan and other members of Sasna Tsr in the cellar of the court during the Serzh Sargsyan era, has evidently been met with the same biased and complicit behavior from the prosecutor’s office and the Investigative Committee (the investigation into this case has not made tangible progress, while the perpetrators continue to serve freely). This clearly indicates that the law enforcement agencies remain as structures of repression, continuing to seek revenge against the rebels who attempted to liberate a state that was seized with their involvement.

We sadly note that particularly in terms of the law enforcement and judicial component, the government has thwarted the task of liberating the seized state, creating real conditions and preconditions for the complete re-seizure of the state, plain and simple, a revanche. It is undeniable that the law enforcement officers have not accepted the messages of love and tolerance from the leader of the revolution, and they are using the assurances of his unconditional confidence in them for purposes of hatred and vengeance. We demand from the current authorities to put an end to the manifestations of repression in the law enforcement system, to rid themselves of those officers exhibiting such behavior, and to hold them criminally accountable."