Police Reported False Information Claiming I Did Not Comply with Legal Demands, Says Member of 'Armenia' Alliance

The authorities are attempting to silence the opposition's voice through illegal methods, stated Angela Nalbandyan, deputy director of Para.TV and a member of the 'Armenia' alliance, in an interview with Factinfo.

It is noted that on Saturday, July 17, Angela Nalbandyan was subjected to detention in the Republic Square area. She mentioned that she was taken into custody while covering a noncompliance protest. “I was passing through the Square when I saw that participants of the protest were being detained, I started filming to present for our media. The police demanded that I leave the scene of the protest, and while I moved away sufficiently, the red berets came and roughly detained me,” Nalbandyan said, adding that the basis for her detention was not following a police legal demand.

“They mentioned false information in their report, claiming that I did not comply with a legal police demand for my detention. However, I did comply and I moved away from the protest,” she noted. Nalbandyan indicated that she was detained without any explanation, and after being held for three hours, she was released, but she refused to give a statement. “They did not provide any explanation as to why I was detained. I later saw in their report that the reason for my detention was a failure to comply with a police legal demand. Even the location from where I was detained was incorrectly noted; I was taken from Vazgen Sargsyan Street, but in the report, it stated Tigran Mets Avenue,” said Angela Nalbandyan.

She also mentioned that she didn’t have the chance to identify herself as a media representative because she was detained immediately. According to her, the authorities are trying to silence the opposition's voice through various illegal and repressive methods. “The fact is evident with members of the 'Armenia' alliance who are detained, such as the mayors of Syunik and doctor Arman Charchyan, among others,” Nalbandyan noted.