18 Parents of Fallen Soldiers Recognized as Victims, No Charges Filed Against Police

In the Yerablur military pantheon, 18 parents of fallen soldiers, who were forcibly taken away by police officers, have been recognized as victims within the criminal proceedings. This was reported to «Factinfo» by the parents' representative, lawyer Vahan Hovhannisyan.

It is recalled that on September 21, Armenia's Independence Day, police officers used disproportionate force to detain 37 citizens—parents of fallen soldiers—who wished to prevent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from entering the pantheon, stating that those responsible for their sons' deaths should not be allowed to enter Yerablur.

The police have stated that the detentions were conducted under Article 182 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for failure to comply with police requests, though videos clearly show that the police made no requests, instead forcibly removing the parents of the deceased soldiers.

As a result of the police actions, five mothers of fallen soldiers suffered various degrees of bodily injury.

A criminal case has been initiated based on part 1 of point 2 of Article 441 of the Armenian Criminal Code, which entails the abuse of authority or exceeding authority by an official in connection with the exercise of their duties, using violence.

As of now, no police officers have been charged.