NIKOL PASHINYAN DEMANDS THAT NKR AUTHORITIES SHOULD PUNISH THE POLICEMEN WHO BEAT FOUNDING PARLIAMENT’S MEMBERS

by Ashot Safaryan

Tuesday, February 24, 21:05

Armenian MP Nikol Pashinyan demands that the NKR authorities should
punish the policemen who beat Founding Parliament’s members in Berdzor
on Jan 31.

In his today’s speech at the Armenian Parliament, Pashinyan said
that the Berdzor events questioned the legitimacy of the numerous
statements of Armenian delegations to international structures,
who said that the NKR has statehood, law and democracy.

“On Feb 6, the Armenian parliamentary delegation visited Stepanakert
to discuss the issue of liquidation of the Berdzor incident
consequences. During the debates with the NKR authorities, my
stand was unambiguous – those who organized and applied violence
against the motor rally participants should be brought to criminal
responsibility in line with the NKR legislation and the high-ranking
officials of the police should be dismissed. This stand was clear to
Artsakh. However, it is more than strange that no criminal case has
even been instituted”, said Pashinyan.

Pashinyan believes that the only way to liquidate the incident
consequences is to punish the culprits; otherwise, the events in
Berdzor undermine the statehood and the image of the NKR.

To remind, on Jan 31 the representatives of the Founding Parliament,
including the Artsakh War veteran Zhirayr Sefilyan, were severely
beaten by the NKR police on their way to Artsakh near Berdzor. The NKR
police were trying to hinder the motor rally within the frames of the
“Centennial Without Regime” movement, which seeks to shift the power
in Armenia on the threshold of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.

The movement members say that most of the policemen were wearing
civilian clothes. The police were taking the motor rally participants
out of the cars and beating them with batons. Many activists were
taken to Stepanakert hospital.