Citizen Held in Semi-Nude Condition for 14 Hours: Lawyer Raises Alarm

Famous lawyer Georgy Melikyan writes on his Facebook page: "An open appeal to the RA Prosecutor General and the Human Rights Defender regarding the illegal deprivation of liberty of Garegin Avagyan for 14 hours, denial of legal assistance, and obstruction of the professional activities of the defense attorney, as well as abusive use of official position and exceeding authority by the police of the RA, the Gegharkunik Regional Police, and the investigative bodies. In short, a return to the 1937 era, a revival of Stalinism in Gegharkunik region.

On July 7, 2020, at 08:15, a group of masked police officers entered my client’s house to carry out a search on suspicion of murder and illegal possession of firearms. They took him to the police station in Sevan, after which, two hours later, between 22:30 and 22:58, they conducted a search in the car parked at his house and discovered an object resembling a Makarov-type pistol and a bullet. It is worth mentioning that what was discovered was not a Makarov but a modified air pistol that does not resemble a Makarov at all. This suggests that the searchers were told they would find a Makarov and, upon discovery, did not even examine it, but simply recorded what they had been told.

Regarding the justification for the crimes presented in terms of the abuse of official position, if at 08:15 no search had yet been conducted and no weapon had been found with Garegin Avagyan or in the vehicle, on what legal grounds was he detained? Why was he isolated from his place of residence, and why was the search conducted in his absence, given that the police were obliged to not only detain him but also present a court order, propose the voluntary surrender of weapons and ammunition, and only then conduct a search?

It is not surprising, as the car was locked and the woman did not provide the car key. Meanwhile, the police, without documenting whether the car was locked or opened, somehow entered the vehicle and only recorded the discovery of the weapon, which cannot be ruled out as being planted in the car by the police or their agents before they entered. The abuse of authority was likely due to Garegin’s isolation, preventing him from making any declarations on the spot. Nevertheless, they took him to the station, where his health deteriorated, and an ambulance was called, but the police prohibited his transfer to the hospital, contacting his lawyer or any other person, thereby illegally depriving him of liberty by keeping his location unknown and moving him between different police stations, holding him in a semi-nude state in handcuffs for 14 hours until 22:23.

It is significant that during this period, Garegin was forbidden not only to call his lawyer but also to inform his relatives about his whereabouts. All my attempts to locate him were in vain, as the police resorted to deception, obstructing my professional activities and misleading me into believing that he had been transferred from Sevan to Yerevan. At 14:42, while at the Sevan Police Station, Officer Meloyan informed me that Garegin had supposedly been transferred to the Criminal Police, meaning he was in Yerevan. After that, I returned to Yerevan and found out that the officer had lied, and there was no such person brought to the Criminal Police. I called him again, and this time he informed me that he was unaware of Garegin's whereabouts.

Afterwards, I called 102, and during the approximately four-minute conversation, they tried to ascertain his location, after which they told me they would call me back. About an hour and a half later, I received a call from the duty officer of the Gegharkunik regional department informing me to present myself at the Sevan Police Station, refusing to provide any other information, claiming they would tell me where he was upon my arrival. I presented myself at the Sevan station, where I learned that Garegin was being held at the Vardenis Police Department. After arriving at the Vardenis investigative department at 22:23, they presented my client to me in a state of torture, as he had been held in cold conditions in a semi-nude state with handcuffs for 14 hours.

The investigator, placing himself in the position of an uninformed person, claimed that he had sent a notification to the police to summon him, disregarding his duty and witnessing the escorting of my client in handcuffs without taking any action to clarify why he was handcuffed and deprived of liberty for 14 hours when he had not issued an order for detention or arrest, ignoring the illegality of the situation. The investigator chose to arrest him thereafter, and when I filed a complaint to the court, the accompanying officer was the same one who had brought him to the Vardenis investigative department. Subsequently, during the court's discussion of the arrest and detention, he confirmed this fact, while the investigator insisted that he was unaware of it. The court, instead of providing justice, rejected the complaint on the grounds that the case regarding deprivation of liberty for a prolonged period was not subject to discussion, thus ignoring the obligation to review it under Article 27 of the RA Constitution. Naturally, it followed that detention would ensue to culminate the chain of unlawful acts.

Everything presented above is irrefutable and substantiated fact, and perhaps I would not have publicized the issue if these offenses had not been carried out openly with particular audacity, violating the rights of personal freedom and legal assistance amidst proclamations of love and solidarity. Furthermore, the police are already involved in this violation at the level of high-ranking officials, that is, the police chief, since after the emergency call 102, they deceived the defense lawyer again, sending them to the Sevan Police Station despite the fact that from 12:00 onwards, they had illegally held my client in the Vardenis department. This means that following the emergency call, it was impossible not to immediately clarify their location and send me specifically to where my client was situated.

In my practice, I have never encountered such audacious and cynical behavior, and therefore I expect the Prosecutor General not to become an instrument of the proclamation of love and solidarity, but to hold the guilty parties accountable in accordance with the rigor of the law for committing a crime with the purpose of revealing a crime, as they have no place in our state, and such individuals should be sent back to 1937, where those operating under such tactics were ultimately executed by the same system to cover their traces."