ZARUHI POSTANJIAN: IN FACT, BECAUSE OF OUTDATED ANTIRIOT WEAPONS STATE TOOK AWAY PEOPLE’S RIGHT OF LIFE ON MARCH 1

Noyan Tapan

Nov 7, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. According to Zaruhi Postanjian,
a member of "Heritage" party’s board and the National Assembly
"Heritage" faction, all the fundamental human rights, including the
right of life, are consistently violated in Armenia. She stated at
the November 7 discussion held at the National Press Club that many
lawyers and experts take the view that if the police had not used
outdated antiriot weapons to disperse people during the March 1 events
in Yerevan, the number of those killed would not have reached 10. "In
fact, it turns out that because of those outdated antiriot weapons,
the state took away people’s right of life," Z. Postanjian concluded.

She said that among human rights violations are numerous cases of
torture, the most notorious of which is the case of Levon Gulian. In
the opinion of Z. Postanjian, Levon Gulian was beaten at the police
department and then thrown out of a window, as a result of which he
died. She added that there were obvious cases of torture on March 1:
dozens of people with bleeding wounds were taken to police stations,
including a 10-year-old boy whom Z. Postanjian saw herself.

The NA deputy said that human rights violations also include illegal
arrests, delay of contests for television frequency permission, refusal
to allow the opposition to hold meetings, stoppage of "Bjni" plant’s
work, which, in her opinion, has political motives. "In Armenia, the
solidarity of the authorities and people is completely distorted,"
she said.