VIDEO: Yeghishe, injured in the battles of Shushi, suffered rib and brain contusions while being detained

“They beat me and threw me into the car like a sack. Someone asked, ‘Do you have your passport?’ I had my military ID with me. I said, ‘Guys, don’t hit me, I’m an injured officer.’ They connected me to the Opera and transported me to the Republican hospital,” Yeghishe Botsinyan recounts in detail about the events of the previous evening when he was detained near the National Assembly.

On the evening of May 20, as parliament was discussing the border situation, citizens gathered on Baghramyan Avenue to protest. The police began detaining the protesters, reportedly taking nine people into custody and pushing the rest of the crowd away. Among those detained was Yeghishe Botsinyan, a participant in the 44-day Artsakh War and a first-degree Knight of the Combat Cross, who was hit in five places during the battles in Shushi.

At that moment, the news outlet 'Hetq' was recording on Baghramyan Avenue, and their camera captured the moment Yeghishe was being put into a police car. The video shows the young man seemingly screaming in pain, while one police officer says, ‘Calm down, let him scream.’

Today, as images appeared online showing Yeghishe in a hospital, the media contacted him to get the full details of the incident. Yeghishe shared:

“When they blocked the street in front of the National Assembly, I was standing in the intersection. When they started pushing women and children, I went forward and told them, 'Guys, isn’t it shameful? What are you doing? Let’s go together to the border; that’s where the fight is happening. Let’s stand together and hit the Turks.' At that moment, they grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into their group, starting to beat me literally.

They dragged me from the Academy of Sciences intersection to the gates of the National Assembly, beating me all the way. They threw me into a car, and for some time, I was alone in there. They said, ‘Take him,’ and as soon as we left, they started hitting me again.

They dropped me off at the Opera intersection. I felt worse on the way. They called for emergency help because I was becoming unconscious. My right side was injured; my ribs were broken from the injuries sustained in the Artsakh War. They mostly hit my ribs, and I was holding my ribs when they struck my head.

I didn’t tell them I had an injury; I was just screaming in pain. Someone asked, ‘Do you have your passport?’ I didn’t have my passport with me, but I showed my military ID, and they said, ‘Guys, don’t hit him; he’s an injured officer.’ I lost consciousness, and they sent me to the Republican hospital while they left.”

Yeghishe Botsinyan is a citizen of Armenia, residing in Yerevan. After the war, he moved with his family to Stepanakert, but as he mentioned, he came to Yerevan for medical treatment.