Armenian Police Address Incident in Mush Village

Reports from the Mush community in the Kashatagh region are concerning. Daniel Ioannisyan, coordinator of the Civic Consciousness NGO, stated on his Facebook page: "According to the news and circulating videos, the village head, Petros Avetisyan, was seen roaming the village during the day of voting, shouting 'no one has been born who will go against me, especially not Arayik, if someone exists, we will break their legs.'"

"Later that night, under the influence of alcohol and accompanied by a group, he approached the polling station and instigated a brawl, subsequently blocking the road of a car carrying a representative of the 'United Homeland' party, damaging the vehicle. The village head and other participants were brought to the police station and later released. No criminal case has been initiated, but the report is being investigated concerning 'an attack on the village head by two women.' These reports have been confirmed by four different sources (one is an old colleague of mine), and the videos are linked in the first comments. We will file a criminal report regarding this incident in the morning under Articles 147, 147.1, and 269 of the Artsakh Criminal Code. P.S. If the case regarding the obstruction of a party's route by the mayor of Martuni were properly investigated, this incident might not have occurred. Police inaction encourages criminal activity," the post read.

The Artsakh police responded, stating: "In response to the video disseminated in the media and social networks regarding the 'brawl that took place in Mush village, Kashatagh region,' we inform you that checks have been carried out by the Artsakh Republic police in the Kashatagh regional department since yesterday. On March 31, 2020, at 23:00, a police officer reported that a brawl was occurring in the Mush village. Officers from the Kashatagh regional department arrived at the scene and found that a dispute had arisen in front of polling station No. 8/46 between A.M., a resident of Kovsakan, and H.V., a resident of Mush village, during which local residents V.K., E.S., and P.A. intervened. Following this, residents H.D., K.M., A.D., and S.D. from Kovsakan arrived at the same location, resulting in both parties hitting each other and causing bodily injury. Medical referral letters were issued to the mentioned individuals," the statement reported.