35 Non-Governmental Organizations Demand the Dismissal of the Police Chief

A number of NGOs have issued a statement regarding the police actions at Yerablur yesterday, which we present below:

“On the morning of September 21, 2022, on the Independence Day of the Republic of Armenia, in Yerablur Military Pantheon, in anticipation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's visit, police officers used force to detain the relatives of fallen servicemen, who initially exhibited peaceful and legal behavior. As a result of the disproportionate use of force and organized illegal actions by the police, 37 citizens were detained, most of whom are family members of the fallen servicemen. There are credible reports that several parents of the deceased servicemen sustained bodily injuries during the operation. The actions resulted in the violation of several rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Armenia, the European Convention on Human Rights, and Armenian legislation.

Considering the circumstances that relatives of the fallen servicemen were further subjected to illegal persecution in police stations (administrative violation records were drawn up against them), and that a considerable number of officers from various units of the police and police troops participated in the detentions, it can be confidently asserted that the operation was conducted at least under the orders of the police leadership. The unified superior of these units (the state) is Police Chief Vahe Ghazaryan, who is directly subordinate to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

We, the undersigned organizations, declare that it is unacceptable for the guidance of the Armenian police to issue orders to carry out illegal forceful actions against citizens. Furthermore, the issuance of orders to commit violence against family members of servicemen who died in defense of the state and to unlawfully deprive them of freedom crosses all moral thresholds.

It is noteworthy that the organized violence against the relatives and parents of the fallen servicemen also has a severely negative impact on the morale of soldiers currently defending Armenia's borders against Azerbaijani aggression.

The current leadership of the police in such a manner not only derives from the values of the 2018 revolution and, in general, democracy, but also adds to the list of processes that contradict these values and have been previously recorded (such as obstructing reforms, lack of efforts to combat corruption internally, and inability to effectively combat crime).

Given the above, the undersigned organizations believe that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should dismiss Police Chief Vahe Ghazaryan (submitting the appropriate request to the President of the Republic of Armenia). Otherwise, all responsibility for the illegal violence against the relatives of the fallen servicemen and other cited issues will personally fall on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

At the same time, we find it unacceptable for the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia to remain silent regarding these events, especially the attempts by some representatives of the ruling faction to justify the police's criminal behavior.

We add that we consider the prosecution of those who issued orders for this organized police crime to be a serious indication of the independence of the judicial system in Armenia.