When eyewitnesses are actually the guilty ones, and have gone missing...

The trial of Davit Kiramijyan and Sargis Gevorgyan continued on August 26, but these aren't their pictures... Why do I have these pictures here? The pictures were taken during the May 31 events near Liberty Square when police attacked peacefully gathered citizens. The Tadevosyans (brother and sister on the left)and Ruben Ayvazyan (on the Right) were there, too. But in what capacity? These three are eyewitnesses in the case against the defendants, but failed to show up to court... Not something new in Armenia these days, eyewitnesses seem fail to show more often than they actually show up in cases against opposition activists. But there's even more.


Among the many detentions/forced trips to the police station that occurred over those few days (May 31 was the 3rd or 4th day in a series), at least three individuals were kept for three days (including Ani Gevorgyan and Sargis Gevorgyan), and one of them, Davit Kiramijyan, was kept in detention for over a month. For what? Supposed hooliganism, violence against a government representative, public disturbance... But how did any of that, how did the scuffle which undoubtedly occurred, come to pass?

On June 16, Haykakan Zhamanak published an article which answers this question. Were Varazdat Tadevosyan, his sister Lusine Tadevosyan, and Ruben Ayvazyan mere passer-by's who got entangled and fell victim to a scuffle? It turns out that the two of them at least may have initially presented themselves to reporters as members of the Ombudsman's office, this was however denied by the Ombudsman (aka DollarArmen) in a letter to Police Chief Alik Sargsyan. The two young men, Davit Tadevosyan and Ruben Ayvazyan, were actually arrested as well - they were released on July 3, and further pursuit of the charges against them were dropped. And, as per HZH, these two likely provided, along with the testimony of Lusine Tadevosyan, as alleged eyewitnesses, everything the police needed to charge the oppositionist youth.

The HZH article goes on, though. And it points out in detail how these three actually incited the scuffles and altercations which occurred, all of which can be seen on video footage of the incident: how Lusine Tadevosyan attaked Ani Gevorgyan, how Ruben Ayvazyan and Varazdat Tadevosyan incited arguments with journalists, how Varazdat Tadevosyan tried to stop Ani Gevorgyan from taking pictures, and how the final scuffle which resulted in Davit Kiramijyan being taken away, was actually incited by Davit Tadevosyan... HZH goes on to point out just how convenient it is that the arguments incited by the Tadevosyans and Ayvazyan are always in perfect view of the camera.

I couldn't find the part about the Ombudsman anywhere other than on HZH. I did find several articles (Zhamanak, Aysor) noting that Kiramijyan thought that Varazdat Tadevosyan was part of the police force, which would seem to be the case for those who have watched the videos and followed this story at all. The police often have plainclothes members either beating protesters, hauling them off, or inciting disputes - and watching the videos, you can tell who's who. Plainclothes police stand mingled in to uniformed police, or off to the side or behind the police, coming forward and becoming active when necessary.

And now, the Tadevosyans and Ayvazyan, on whose testimony the case is based almost entirely, are not showing up to court (there is also a Lilit Gevorgyan named, but I'm not sure who she is). They apparently sent word that they were out of the country, but there was no proof of this. Now, the plan is to arrest them and bring them to court.

What a farce. None of it new, and unfortunately none of it surprising. But still, just ridiculous. Just more ways of continuing the intimidation, trying to keep the show going while the theater is on fire, and everyone quiet...

Let's not forget that former political prisoner Vardges Gaspari was not allowed into the courtroom, and neither was Sargis Gevorgyan's own mother. Gaspari was forcibly removed while he practiced civil disobedience - he received several bruises and other injuries while doing so.

Statement on arrest of Ani Gevorgyan

Update: See the official statement in defense of Ani Gevoryan by the Committee to Project Journalists .

Haykakan Zhamanak has put out a statement regarding the arrest of Ani Gevorgyan:

STATEMENT ON THE ARREST OF ANI GEVORGYAN,
JOURNALIST, THE ARMENIAN TIMES DAILY

On May 31, 2010, Ms. Ani Gevorgyan, journalist of Haykakan Zhamanak (The Armenian Times; www.armtimes.com) daily was apprehended in Freedom Square in the center of Yerevan, while performing her professional duties. Ani Gevorgyan was covering an act of resistance initiated by young activists of the Armenian National Congress.

Later that day, Ani Gevorgyan was charged with Part 1, Article 316 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, "Violence against a State representative." As of today, June 2, 2010, no detail or visual evidence has been provided by the Police regarding the alleged violence by the 23-year old journalist against the police.

During the same act of protest, two other young female journalists were subjected to compulsory appearance to the police department - Suzanna Poghosyan from Haykakan Zhamanak daily and Lilit Tadevosyan from Hayq daily, were subjected to compulsory appearance. The latter two were released within a couple of hours.

The Editorial staff and management of Haykakan Zhamanak daily consider that:

- Violence against journalists and against young women is unacceptable;

- Ani Gevorgyan's arrest is an act of revenge by the head of the Police of Armenia (Mr. Alik Sargsyan), because Ani Gevorgyan is the journalist responsible for the coverage of activities of the RA Police and the National Security Service, among others. In particular, last week Ms. Gevorgyan published two articles that covered the production of a video clip devoted to the police and revealed fraud related to the production of that clip.

- The arrest of journalist Ani Gevorgyan is a violation of the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On dissemination of mass information" (Article 4. Guarantees for the freedom of speech in the sphere of media), which stipulates, inter alia, that "When conducting his or her lawful professional activities, a journalist, as a person performing a social duty, shall be protected by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia", and which prohibits "interfering with lawful professional activities of a journalist."

- Violence against Ani Gevorgyan and her subsequent arrest violate the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (Article 164. Obstructing lawful professional activities of a journalist), which stipulates that "1. Obstructing lawful professional activities of a journalist, or forcing the journalist to disseminate information or not to disseminate information, is punished with a fine in the amount of 200-400 times the minimum salary. 2. The same actions committed by an official abusing his or her official position, is punished with a fine in the amount of 400-700 times the minimum salary, or imprisonment for a term of up to 3 years, by deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or practice certain activities for up to 3 years, or without such deprivation."

Therefore,

We demand that the Police and the authorities of Armenia,

- immediately release Ani Gevorgyan, Haykakan Zhamanak daily journalist;

- stop criminal persecution against Gevorgyan and bring to justice the police officers who exceeded their powers.
--------------------------

So - what's all the fuss? What are these videos that Ani wrote about? She wrote an article noting the incredible similarities between the newly produced RA police hymn and accompanying video, to the not as new hymn and video of the police of the Georgian Republic. She also points out the massive misrepresentations in the armenian version. Unfortunately the piece is not yet available in English, though as Ani Wandaryan points out in my prior post, the google translate version isn't half bad (here).
Both videos are available online, and I've posted them here (thanks again to Ani W. for both the idea, and sources for the videos). Judge for yourselves.

Georgian Video Armenian Video

And to top it off, here is the video of Ani Gevorgyan being taken off by the police (first several minutes of video):



The Committee to Protect Journalists has an article on their website regarding her arrest - here is an excerpt:

“Based on the video and accounts provided by her editor, we’re deeply skeptical of the police allegations against Ani Gevorgian. The evidence indicates that she was at the rally doing her job,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “We join with our Armenian colleagues in calling for Gevorgian’s release.”

If you use twitter, and tweet about any issue related to her, please attach the hashtag #AniG... Each new hashtag seems to be a step further from democracy - #March1, #Pashinyan, #Khalafyan, #AniG, #DollarArmen, #NonuthinAlik #humanrights #Bazaz... hopefully soon new hashtags will actually be a positive thing...

Alik Sargsyan's most fearsome foe: she who carries the camera, the pen, and a brain

Attempts by opposition demonstrators to peacefully just exist, sit, or just walk in the newly re-opened Liberty Square continued after May 29, despite attempts by the RA police and red berets and other such characters to stop them. On May 31, according to various reports, somewhere between tens to 100 demonstrators were present, and approximately 17 individuals were taken into custody, including SDHP chairwoman Lyudmila Sargsyan. 3 of those 17 were reporters, two from HZH and one from Hayk. Ani Gevorgyan, a photojournalist from HZH was one of those three, she was later arrested, she remains in police custody.

She is about 22 or 23 years old per reports. She is charged with hitting one of the police in the face, but per a witness statement in a video taken during the clashes with police, she is the one who got hit - another of the banditocracy's favorite techniques: figure out what they were going to say about you, and turn it around. In fact, it seems she was picked out in advance, as the video records one of the police saying “this is that very journalist.”

Now, why would the RA police and red berets and the rest of that posse (since they are exactly that, a posse) want to persecute this young woman? Just take a look at her recent writings - in addition to working for HZH, a strongly pro-opposition newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is Nikol Pashinyan - she has been writing about Alik Sargsyan, and the RA police. Most recently she commented on just how similar the video for the RA police is to the video for the Georgian police.

On a side note, the police and red berets and the rest of them have somehow decided that undercover, plainclothes police are the way to go in these situations (one of their older strategies). I'm not sure why, since they're easy to pick out - watch any of the videos and within seconds its clear who is who. I wonder if it is for photos, so it appears that there are fewer law enforcement, or to mislead people, or something else entirely.

If I have some time, I'll start a nice little collage of the cops in plainclothes, just so they don't feel underappreciated. We wouldn't want that, now would we?


For more reading: Tert
HZH "Once bit, twice shy", HZH "Revenge"
ArmeniaNow, A1plus "Alik Sargsyan's Revenge"
RFE/RL

Armenia's Police Reality: Twilight Zone meets Kafka

Arthur Sakunts is a human rights defender who has been very outspoken about the Khalafyan murder. So it is not surprising that the SIS is now trying to blame Sakunts for spreading misinformation to the press.

This just gets more and more ridiculous. From the big-mouthed Alik Sargsyan (follow mention of him on twitter! #nonuthinalik) who can't even offer proper condolences or an apology, to the persistent claim that it was suicide - with all fingerprints wiped off of the knife, no stab wounds in Khalafyan's shirt, two stab wounds to the stomach, magical knowledge and access to a kitchen knife in the room at the police station, knife marks on Khalafyan's chest, and bruising all over his body - and they still want to call it a suicide, to the hasty departure of two of Khalafyan's co-arrestees out of Armenia.

Forced Suicide, maybe. But forced suicide is still Murder, and maybe its even worse.

At the rate this is going, next thing you know they'll be trying to blame Sakunts for what happened to Khalafyan. I'm sure the regime is just looking for any excuse to quiet Sakunts, and throw him in prison (they've done it before - but that's no surprise).

Dear Alik, that is NOT an apology - just stop talking and resign.

Alik Sargsyan, head of the Police of Armenia, is reportedly apologizing - multiple news sources have headline stating that he is apologizing, with regards to the Khalafyan case. But what is he apologizing for?

Once I actually read the texts, I saw no condolences offered. No apology for the beating, torture, death and murder of a young man at the hands of his department. No promise to investigate how such a thing could have happened, or maybe to see if it may have happened before. No talk of how to prevent such things in the future.

What I did see was an apology for spreading disinformation. And promises to punish without pity those who gave him the disinformation. Promises to punish those directly responsible for the violence.

Sorry, but that doesn't cut it, Alik. Where is the apology for the murder of a young man? Where is the apology for fostering an environment that allows and likely encourages such behavior? Where is the apology for just plain out being wrong, if its actually true that you did not know from the very beginning.

That is your department, Alik. You are responsible for knowing what happens, for the environment you foster, for fully researching your facts before you make statements.

Promising punishment, boundless punishment, is just hitting back and passing the buck. It is a perpetuation of violence, not logic or law or justice. Promising punishment to subordinates means those subordinates will pass that on to their own subordinates, and so it goes down the lines. And who gets it in the end? Well, whoever is at the end of the receiving line. And who is that for police? Well, citizens, that's who. And that's probably how we ended up with police killing a common citizen in the first place, not to mention innumerable instances of police beating protesters (including women and the elderly), and March 1.

Alik, you just keep saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, over and over. Open mouth insert foot, again and again.

My suggestion? Stop talking. Just resign.

Some basic arithmetic might help

A week or two ago there was an HAK statement regarding the 180 degree turn police took while the FIDH conference was going on. In an attempt to make the police and authorities of Armenia appear to have a developed sense of Human Rights and Democracy, the demonstration and march had a minimal police presence, with no provocations or violent actions. But what it really highlighted boils down to simple arithmetic (maybe some basic algebra is involved):

(1) Police + demonstrators = demonstration + altercations/violence
(as 2 years of demonstrations have shown us)

(2) Demonstrators = demonstration + (- altercations/violence)
(quantity negative/lack of altercations and violence)

If we do the subtraction, we are left with

(3) Police = altercations/violence

But is this really the case? Is this mathematical finding true? Let’s add some recent and past events. I won’t list them, but just a quick stroll through any of the papers or blogs, or Human Rights reports for that matter, shows what seem to be endless lists of police and red berets beating, punching (with brass knuckles at times), pushing, kidnapping, and opening fire on demonstrators. In addition to Levon Gulyan’s apparently curious and accidental death while in police custody, now there is the case of Vahan Khalafyan, who somehow obtained bruises and knife marks on his body and two (assumed) fatal stab wounds to his belly, also while in police custody. His friends were luckier, and were only beaten and threatened with sexual assault. Now, Police Chief Alik Sargsyan said right away that this was suicide, and that there was absolutely no torture involved (how he knew so quickly is unclear). As Alik Sargsyan pointed out, why would you torture someone if they have already confessed (see hnazarian). But just yesterday a policeman was arrested for possibly forcing him to commit suicide (which is just nauseating – see unzipped). Police presence alone is associated with violence. Now, the police themselves don’t understand why anyone would have this impression, as Bazaz so kindly pointed out (see my last post).

So independently of the equations above, we arrive at:

(4) Police=Altercations/Violence

We could even add on a little here. As HAK pointed out, the police are basically the minions of the oligarchs and authorities. And what do the bosses of the police do when left to their own? The same thing. Take last weekend – two gangs basically had a shoot-out. But they weren’t just any gangs, they were actually members of two different political parties. And according to at least one source, it seems at least one high up government official was there too, though it is being denied. And this most recent skirmish was not the only one. So, as the police are actors of the authorities, it makes sense that:

(5) Authorities=Altercations/Violence

And in the end it all fits together. Whether we subtract out equation (2) from equation (1) and get (3), or look at (4) and (5) which were arrived at independently with independent data, we arrive at the same conclusion. It is the police presence, the actors of the authorities, which bring violence. Not the demonstrators, not the
marches.

Not that we didn’t all know this already. The manipulative and violent tactics of the current regime, as well as the desperate measures it is willing to take to buy time while they are in their current quagmire. Unfortunately, it is Human Rights and Democracy in Armenia, and most importantly, the people of Armenia , who have paid the price thus far.

And many in the West who purport to stand for Human Rights and Democracy, used this to their own political ends, and supported and trusted Sargsyan. But now they know the truth firsthand. The top story on rfe/rl today is "Armenia Stall Turkey Deal."

I wonder what comes next…

N.B. But, according to Oskanyan, the main problems in Armenia are the economic and political monopolies. Not lack of Human Rights, Police Violence, or any of that. Wow. At least mention it in there, somewhere, Mr. Oskanyan.