Report to be Filed Regarding the Forceful Detention of Babken Harutyunyan

Such illegal administrative detention has likely never been seen until now. This was stated by Sos Hakobyan, the spokesperson of the "Homeland" party, in an interview with "Pastinfo."

As previously reported, citizens demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have blocked the government’s third building. Police officers detained at least 57 citizens participating in the protest, claiming that the citizens had not complied with the police's legal demands. However, videos clearly showed that the police used brutal force to detain citizens without any demands being presented.

Several members of the "Homeland" party were also subjected to administrative detention. Hakobyan mentioned that they plan to contest these detentions, as such illegal administrative detentions have not occurred until now. "People were standing—not even in the street but deeper onto the pavement—and there were no demands from the police to stop or do anything. They just came and detained people as if they had uncovered a terrorist organization," Hakobyan stated.

According to him, there were no legal demands from the police that could have justified the administrative detention, and there was no contact with the police. No officer approached them. "The black berets simply came behind the ordinary officers and one by one entered and detained people. Even in my documentation, it was recorded that I was standing in a passage area," he noted, adding that they were released within two or three hours after being subjected to administrative detention.

Hakobyan suggested that it might have been Pashinyan's nerves getting to him, as people were calling him names he deserved. "I think he might have been having a nervous breakdown, and nothing extraordinary happened that could be connected to it," Hakobyan stated.

Regarding the forceful detention of party member Babken Harutyunyan, Hakobyan mentioned that they are likely to file a report of a crime under Article 348 of the RA Criminal Code for illegal detention or under Article 309 of the same code for exceeding official powers.