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HCA VANADZOR OFFICE BLAMES ARMENIAN POLICE FOR AIDING HOOLIGANS
ARMINFO
Wednesday, April 3, 17:56
Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) has disseminated
a statement condemning the 29 March 2013 decision of R.Minasyan,
the senior investigator of the investigation division of the Lori
investigation department of Armenian Police. According to that
decision, the criminal case on the 16 April 2012 attack against the
HCA Vanadzor Office has been dismissed.
To recall, on April 16, 2012, at approximately 11 a.m. a group
of about 200 people gathered outside the office of the Helsinki
Citizens' Assembly (HCA) in Vanadzor, demanding that the screening of
a series of short films made in Azerbaijan planned for the next day
be cancelled. The crowd threw eggs and stones at the office, broke
several windows and threatened the staff with further violence unless
their demands were met. The group dispersed only after HCA leaders
promised not to show the films. The HCA's Vanadzor office agreed
to provide its premises to the Caucasus Center of Peace Making, a
non-governmental organization working on confidence-building projects,
which planned to show four short films by Azerbaijani filmmakers as
part of a film festival.
"The investigative bodies have refused twice to institute a criminal
case, thereby vividly patronizing the those who committed the acts
of violence against the public organization and encouraging new such
crimes. The well-known international organizations - Human Rights
Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, as well as the Armenian
organizations condemned the fact of the attack on HCAV. Moreover,
the international human rights organizations qualified this as
restriction of freedom of expression", HCAV says. HCAV thinks that
the investigative bodies failed to properly and impartially assess
the fact of the attack on the human rights organization, which is
criminally liable under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Armenia.
The authors of the statement are also going to appeal to the court
instances of Armenia against the unlawful decision of the investigator.
ARMINFO
Wednesday, April 3, 17:56
Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) has disseminated
a statement condemning the 29 March 2013 decision of R.Minasyan,
the senior investigator of the investigation division of the Lori
investigation department of Armenian Police. According to that
decision, the criminal case on the 16 April 2012 attack against the
HCA Vanadzor Office has been dismissed.
To recall, on April 16, 2012, at approximately 11 a.m. a group
of about 200 people gathered outside the office of the Helsinki
Citizens' Assembly (HCA) in Vanadzor, demanding that the screening of
a series of short films made in Azerbaijan planned for the next day
be cancelled. The crowd threw eggs and stones at the office, broke
several windows and threatened the staff with further violence unless
their demands were met. The group dispersed only after HCA leaders
promised not to show the films. The HCA's Vanadzor office agreed
to provide its premises to the Caucasus Center of Peace Making, a
non-governmental organization working on confidence-building projects,
which planned to show four short films by Azerbaijani filmmakers as
part of a film festival.
"The investigative bodies have refused twice to institute a criminal
case, thereby vividly patronizing the those who committed the acts
of violence against the public organization and encouraging new such
crimes. The well-known international organizations - Human Rights
Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, as well as the Armenian
organizations condemned the fact of the attack on HCAV. Moreover,
the international human rights organizations qualified this as
restriction of freedom of expression", HCAV says. HCAV thinks that
the investigative bodies failed to properly and impartially assess
the fact of the attack on the human rights organization, which is
criminally liable under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Armenia.
The authors of the statement are also going to appeal to the court
instances of Armenia against the unlawful decision of the investigator.