OSCE OFFICE EXPRESSES CONCERN WITH THE DETENTION OF ITS EMPLOYEE
AZG Armenian Daily
02/04/2008
After-Election Crisis
In response to numerous enquiries from the media and public, regarding
the case of detention of a staff member of the OSCE Office in Yerevan
and in order to avoid speculations, the Office would like to state
the following:
On 27 March, at about 18:00, while heading towards the ArmenTel branch
office on personal business, a local staff member of the Office and her
cousin were stopped on Tumanyan Street by a group of police officers,
who ordered to follow them without giving any explanation.
The two were forced into a police car and taken to the Shengavit
police station. After the Office’s intervention the staff member and
her relative were immediately released.
The Office expressed its deep concern to the authorities in connection
with this deplorable incident and requested clarification.
It is noteworthy that after the cancellation of the State of Emergency
in Yerevan, unsanctioned mass events held almost every day. Police
as a measure of fight against these phenomena regularly takes to
police stations the supposed participants and organizers of these
events. Nevertheless, sometimes people bearing no relation to these
events occur in the police.