ArmInfo. The political patronage of the authorities ensures impunity for police officers who break the law. Former Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan wrote on his Facebook account.
"Nowadays, the political patronage of the red and black berets is especially obvious: they openly commit crimes in front of cameras and go unpunished, brutally beat people in large groups, humiliate them, etc. The most that is done is an official investigation without clear results, let's say "to avoid criminal prosecution, in order to 'close the topic,'" notes the ex-ombudsman.
In the case of protesters, the picture is completely different, Tatoyan notes. "Regardless of whether there are grounds or not, without ensuring minimum rights, without even trying to find out the role of the provocateurs, the rally participants are immediately brought in en masse, and arrests in criminal cases are carried out at lightning speed. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan's statements that violence should be excluded and that among the rally participants there are provocateurs who have nothing to do with the rally are not taken into account. One of the tasks of the police is to identify and isolate provocateurs," the human rights activist emphasizes.
According to him, yesterday's reprehensible and shameful phenomenon stems from political patronage of the illegal actions of the police "red berets" and "black berets", when, as lawyer Ruben Melikyan informed, they brutally beat the humble clergyman Deacon Daniel, who has humility and other Christian virtues, with mockingly repeating "holy father, holy father," as a result of which Deacon Daniel ended up in the hospital with various physical injuries.
"To do this, either by law or by international rules, responsibility must be implemented within the framework of criminal proceedings," noted the former Human Rights Commissioner of Armenia.
On May 31, the Tavush for the Motherland movement held a rally near the building of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, demanding a meeting with the minister to comment on recent statements by the leaders of Turkey and Azerbaijan. The ministry refused to meet with the protesters, and they demanded to be allowed into the building. There was a collision. According to the Investigative Committee of Armenia, the protesters threw stones, containers of water and other objects at the police. 28 protesters were detained. Among those detained are member of the initiative council, participant in the 44-day war David Aristakesyan, and ex-Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ashot Harutyunyan. Deacon Daniel Gevorkyan and doctor Nikolai Grigoryan were released this morning.
