We'll do 'em like Khalafyan...

The other day, during what would have been a peaceful protest if the police hadn't been involved, there was a significant scuffle between opposition youth and the police. Four youth were taken in to the police department, beaten by police, and released later in the day, and immediately showed up at the opposition rally that was going on. The photo on the left is taken with permission from the facebook group ԸՆԴԴԵՄ ՈՍՏԻԿԱՆԱԿԱՆ ԱՊՕՐԻՆՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՆԵՐԻ(AGAINST POLICE VIOLATIONS) - the caption explains that these are the faces of two of the policemen who were among the most active in beating the opposition youth at the police station.

The regime's consistent response to youth practicing their fundamental human rights is to beat them, shove them in a police car, and beat them some more. There's nothing new in this.

But I had not yet heard the following yet, nor did I see it reported anywhere in writing.

One of the RFE/RL broadcasts after the release of the four youths had a short clip with one of the very active youth, Vahagn Gevorgyan. You can start listening around 7:30 min, he starts recounting what happened to them after the arrest at around 8:15 min - here is a rough translation and transliteration:

"Just after they got us through the entrance to the division, until we got to the on-duty section, having thrown us to the ground, they took us through beating us and pushing and pulling us, they weren’t asking us to do anything, they were just beating us, they were hitting us on our heads, too...

They hit Sargis Gevorgyan on his head a couple of times, I saw how they were kicking [us]...

From getting kicked in the head he [Sargis] hit his head on the floor and after that he couldn’t get up, he was dizzy...

When we had fallen on the floor, one of the policeman said,

'that’s enough, they’ll die like this.' And the other [policeman] said,

'Good good, we’ll make it like Khalafyan’s situation'

Wow.

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.