WAITING FOR THE POLICE EVERY NIGHT

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07:59 pm | April 07, 2009

Society

Resident of the Nerkin Sasnashen village of the Talin region Vera
Safaryan’s family has been living in fright for a year now. They wait
for police officers every moment.

Vera’s son Sevak Stepanyan, 25, is part of the opposition and is
under persecution for a year.

Police officers at the Talin police division say that they have seen
Sevak in one of the scenes of the events of March 1, 2008. The scene
shows how Sevan resisted police officers during a beating near the
Yerevan city council building.

That served as a basis for law-enforcement bodies to come to the
Stepanyan household and threaten the family. But the Stepanyans and
their relatives couldn’t tolerate what happened on March 26 at around
2 a.m.

Vera Safaryan’s older sister Annman told us that the law-enforcement
bodies came without notice and searched for Sevak around the entire
house, including cabinets and under beds.

"The family was in stress. They checked the rooms where the brides
were sleeping and the three-year old child was surprised and scared
after the brutal treatment," said Mrs. Annman.

According to her, law-enforcement bodies had disputed with Vera’s
other son Armen Stepanyan, 27. They cursed him, beat him and tried
to throw him in the car. They pushed Vera Safaryan, threw her on the
floor, damaged her arm and left her unconscious. As Mrs. Annman said,
this was headed by Head of the Talin police division Gevorg Poghosyan
and his assistant David Hovhannisyan.

According to member of the ANC and resident of Talin Hayk Atanesyan,
the behavior of the law-enforcement bodies is more of a threat because
the Stepanyans support the ANC and come to all the rallies. "They
are not after Sevak; they simply want to teach others a lesson,"
said Hayk Atanesyan.

The ANC is getting ready to file an official notice to the
RA Prosecutor General, the RA Ombudsman and a number of other
international organizations in Armenia to conduct an investigation.