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Today, the Court of Appeals dismissed the complaint of residents of Ejmiadzin city, spouses Ashot Khudoyan and Heghine Makaryan and of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor on the Special Investigation Service decree dismissing criminal proceedings against the police officers. Hence, the Court of Appeals upheld the ruling of the Court of First Instance with no justification provided yet.

The most noteworthy fact about this case is that on December 2 of the past year, when the Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Armenia, the police forcibly removed protesting sit-inners Ashot Khudoyan, his wife and their 4 minor children from the opposite sidewalk of the presidential palace.

The Khudoyan family occasionally holds sit-ins in front of the presidential palace demanding a fair resolution of their housing legal issues. In the morning of the day when Putin was to visit Yerevan, the police forced the family out of their protest area. Following this incidence, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor reported a crime to the Special Investigation Service demanding that it should instigate proceedings against the illegal actions of the police. Ashot Khudoyan and Heghine Makaryan, who had also reported a crime, were summoned to the SIS. While the SIS prepared the necessary materials, it eventually dismissed the criminal case due to the lack of corpus delicti in the actions of the police.

The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor further appealed the above SIS decree in the Prosecutor General’s Office which also dismissed it.

Afterwards, the decree was appealed at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts which ruled to dismiss the complaint. The first instance court ruling was further appealed with the Court of Appeals.

Heghine Makaryan’s representative from the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor, Tatevik Siradeghyan informed Lragir.am about their intention to apply to the Court of Cassation. According to her, the police acted unlawfully on that day.

“The police was not entitled to remove Ashot Khudoyan’s family from the site, as it was considered a public area, and any person could stay there. The protest action does not depend on whether or not any official delegation arrives in Yerevan. The sit-inners were entitled to stay on the site and exercise their right to freedom of assembly. However, they were forced out of the area, and the media has relevant publications and videos to this effect”, argued Tatevik Siradeghyan.

Prior to the incident, the police officers asked and begged the family to leave and referred to Vladimir Putin’s visit to Yerevan. The Khudoyan family refused to leave, and on December 2, in the morning, the police eventually forced them out of the area.

“On December 2, at about 6:15 am, the police officers forcibly kidnapped us from the area in front of the presidential palace. Throughout the night, a group of police officers in plain clothes were watching us, they would come to tell us that we should leave due to Putin’s visit. We wondered whether the police officers did not notice that we had been staying out in the street with our 8-month-old baby and other minor children for 4 nights. We asked them whether it was only due to Putin’s visit that they eventually noticed us, came and intended to force us out. A police officer Mkoyan told us that if we did not leave the area voluntarily, they would force us out of there. We refused to leave”, says Heghine Makaryan, Ashot Khudoyan’s wife.

She reported that later on the same day the police officers had hit her husband and used violence against him leaving scars on his back. However, the Special Investigation Service failed to consider such obvious evidence. “They forcibly took me away barefoot and hit my husband on his head and back. While all these actions were witnessed, the evidence is denied”, said Heghine Makaryan.

Upon forcing out Ashot Khudoyan, his wife and their 3 minor children from the area, the police officers found that they had left the 8-month-old baby there. “On our way, the police officers asked us how many children we had, and I answered that we had 4 children. Then the police officer said, “Oops, we goofed up and left the baby there”, said Heghine Makaryan.

Later, the police said that the Khudoyans had deliberately left their baby in the area. According to Tatevik Siradeghyan, the sit-inner Emma Sahakyan, who witnessed the incident, held the baby and was not willing to give him to the police officers.

“The video recording of the actions of the police officers shows that Emma Sahakyan was not willing to give the child to them. If the police had not used violence before, the woman would have no reason to do so. This being so, the police officers were in plain clothes and failed to introduce themselves properly. This comes to witness the intention of the police to conceal their violent actions”, noted Tatevik Siradeghyan.

According to her, even 2 months after the incident, Ashot Khudoyan had the traces of injuries on his body. While they were revealed by the forensic examination upon the crime report, the experts were unable to determine the exact date they were caused. However, the videos recorded immediately after the incident come to prove that Khudoyan incurred the injuries on the very day. The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor doubts that the Prosecutor General’s Office does not want the NGO to follow up this case. According to Tatevik Siradeghyan, the investigator for especially important cases clearly noted that his decree on dismissing the criminal case was also submitted to the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor, with the right to appeal clarified.

“Later, as we applied to the Prosecutor General’s Office, we received a response to the effect that the appeal could not be considered since it has nothing to do with any violations of the rights or interests of the NGO’s Chairman Artur Sakunts. However, the investigating authority actually recognized Artur Sakunts as a person who reported the crime; otherwise, they would not clarify to him his right to appeal. Hence, we can see the intention of the Prosecutor General’s Office to prevent the NGO from following up this case”, said Tatevik Siradeghyan.

The article was prepared under the HCA Vanadzor Project on Development of control mechanisms over Special Investigation Service, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the Service of National Security as a guarantee for prevention of human rights violations in the Republic of Armenia.