Vehicles of Participants in Auto Rally Not Yet Returned to Owners: Tovmasyan

Since May 16, we have been facing a situation where the vehicles of citizens participating in an awareness auto rally have been taken to a secured area by police officers without justification and have not yet been returned to their owners. This was announced by the Chair of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, Taguhi Tovmasyan, on her Facebook page, informing that she has sent a letter to Police Chief Vahe Ghazaryan regarding this issue.

She particularly noted:
“Moreover, the owners of the vehicles have not been provided with any reasonable explanation by the Police regarding the grounds on which their vehicles are being kept in a secured area. It appears that the police have simply confiscated the property of Armenian citizens and are neither returning it nor indicating the reasons for the non-return. This is outrageous…
Let us note that taking vehicles to a secured area and not returning them to their lawful owners without legal justification violates a number of rights of citizens, including the right to ownership. Therefore, such actions by the police are not lawful, they represent a manifest interference with an individual’s right to property, and those vehicles must be immediately returned to their lawful possessors.

Considering that solving this issue falls under the jurisdiction of the Police of the Republic of Armenia, I have sent a letter to the Police Chief Vahe Ghazaryan and requested him to instruct the relevant bodies to investigate the issue presented and provide information on the following questions:
1. How many vehicles of citizens participating in the awareness auto rally have been taken to a secured area since May 16 and on what grounds?
2. When does the police plan to return the vehicles belonging to these citizens which are currently in the secured area?”
I will provide additional updates on the developments of the process.