If the Leader Says 'Go and Beat Them', They Will Go and Beat Them: Gevorg Petrosyan

It was a surprise for me to be subjected to administrative detention, because administrative detention as a measure has its legislative foundations, rules, which were ignored by the police. This was stated by former MP Gevorg Petrosyan at a press conference today, September 20, regarding his detention on September 18 from Aznavour Square, where he participated in a protest demanding the cancellation of a concert on September 21.

“Today, with the exception of certain units, the majority of the police have engaged in illegality, their only goal is to protect Nikol Pashinyan's government for at least one more day. Two days ago, the actions of the police at Charles Aznavour Square had absolutely nothing to do with the purposes laid out in our legislation. ‘We came out of a café and I was arrested. Do you know what is written in that arrest report? I am going to follow up on this writer, some Tigran Gevorgyan, let him take note. People like him should not work in the system. When I say ‘show yourself,’ he runs away; how am I supposed to know who he is? He might be a uniformed thug sent to suppress the people. I ask, why are you dragging an 80-year-old elderly man or a war veteran? Oh, Nikol's police,’” he said.

In his opinion, the institute of cult of the leader still operates within the police. “It doesn't matter what the people are doing, what matters is that the leader says ‘catch this one, take him away.’ It has come to the point that if the leader says ‘go and beat them,’ they will go and beat them,” he noted.