Two Individuals Charged with Assaulting Police Officers

The investigation into a criminal case regarding the assault of police officers has been concluded by the Investigation Committee of Armenia's Ararat region, specifically in the Vagharchapat investigative division, as reported by the Information and Public Relations Department of the Committee.

On April 10, 2020, at around 22:00, a 38-year-old man from Yerevan, along with his 33-year-old friend from Ejmiadzin, was traveling in a Toyota Camry to Zvartnots Airport when they approached a police checkpoint located in the administrative area of the village of Tairan, established in accordance with the Armenian government’s decision to declare a state of emergency on March 16, 2020. They failed to comply with the lawful instruction from police to stop and passed through the checkpoint at high speed.

As part of their duties, senior operational staff from the Vagharchapat police and three traffic inspectors pursued the vehicle and stopped it in front of a fast food service point in the village of Parakar. However, the driver and the passenger continued to resist the police’s authority, verbally assaulting the officers. One of them struck a police officer on the hand, while the other punched him near the left eye. Subsequently, they inflicted non-life-threatening violence, delivering blows to each other’s faces and various parts of their bodies, resulting in minor injuries, including bleeding and wounds around the left upper eyelid, thereby obstructing the police officer's ability to perform his duties and attempting to interrupt the identification check and verification of the vehicle's documentation.

With sufficient evidence gathered, both suspects were charged under Article 316, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (violence against a representative of authority). The chosen preventive measure was a personal guarantee not to leave. The investigation has been completed, and the criminal case has been sent to court with an indictment.

Notice: The suspected or accused individual is considered innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the law as per the legitimate verdict of the court.