Human Rights Defender on Incident Involving Haik Marutyan's Council Members and Citizens

On March 23, an emergency response team was dispatched at the instruction of the Human Rights Defender to the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia located in Yerevan's Center and Norq Marash administrative districts. This is in connection with an incident involving members of the Yerevan City Council’s "National Progress" faction and a group of citizens. This was reported by the Human Rights Defender's office.

The visit is being conducted based on reports received through the Human Rights Defender's hotline and public information. Private conversations will take place with individuals deprived of their liberty currently in the investigative body regarding the criminal proceedings initiated due to the mentioned incident. The grounds for their deprivation of liberty and the status of rights protection will be examined, as well as the documents related to this matter.

It should be noted that earlier, a member of the "National Progress" faction, Pedro Zarokyan, published a video on his Facebook page along with a caption stating, "The greening criminals are attacking our team members." Later, the police arrested members of Haik Marutyan's faction in the City Council.