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Yesterday the RA Police released a statement regarding a rally to be held today by R. Hovhannisyan, the Heritage Party leader. The statement states in particular: “The tendency to take illegal actions, including actions prescribed by the RA Criminal Code during rallies organized by R. Hovhannisyan,  former candidate for president, gradually becomes stronger, in which case the peaceful nature of rallies, depending on the course of events, will become partially or completely ineffective. In that event, the RA Police will have to undertake its other duties as envisaged by law. Thus, pursuant to clause 3, section 1 of Article 32 of the RA Freedom of Assembly Act, the Police must remove those, who outrageously disrupt the peaceful and normal progress of the gathering, from the site of the assembly, if it cannot but be ensured otherwise.” www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with human rights defenders whether the Police threatened R. Hovhannisyan by that, reminding him somehow what had happened after the 2008 presidential elections.

Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor, stated during a talk with us that the Police’s statement was not in line with the actions undertaken by Raffi Hovhannisyan and his supporters. Then he went into detail: “The fact that Police officers accompany during the process of pasting announcements, in some cases tear off those posters and announcement papers is displaying disproportionate force by the Police themselves. It is intended for intimidation and threats. As for the inauguration to be organized by R. Hovhannisyan, it is a socio-political action, which pursues a political goal and is not violent in its nature. Everyone can organize such an event; it is fully in line with the legal requirements for rallies. These can be considered as illegal, if there are calls for violence, hatred, war, and hostility. Therefore, the Police give an assessment in advance to actions, about which they don’t know yet whether they will happen or not. I assess the Police’s statement as threatening, unlawful, and exceeding their powers. Continuing his thought, A. Sakunts noted: “What Raffi Hovhannisyan does, along with his supporters, is fully in line with exercising one’s right to freedom of assembly. While the Police’s actions testify to the importance of the political content given by and their approach to those actions accordingly. The police talks about political appropriateness and takes political attitude, which is none of its business.” Vardan Harutyunyan, a human rights advocate and the manager of the Rights and Freedom Centre, said the following about the released statement: “The police have one function; to ensure the security of peaceful events. And the events have been peaceful up to now; therefore, the Police should perform their functions and ensure the security of the event. If there are no alerts for violence, there is no need for the Police to make threats. At least I don’t see that tendency.”

Source:  http://www.aravot.am/2013/04/09/228499/