Tuesday, Armenian Police Accused Of Beating Up Another Lawyer • Naira Bulghadarian Armenia - Lawyer Karen Alaverdian speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, June 13, 2023. Another Armenian lawyer on Tuesday claimed to have been beaten up by police officers while representing a criminal suspect. The lawyer, Karen Alaverdian, said he was subjected to “undue physical force,” handcuffed and detained after trying to stop several officers kicking and punching his client at a police station in Yerevan last week. The Armenian police launched an internal inquiry into the incident. Nevertheless, Alaverdian was charged with “hooliganism” and obstruction of legitimate police actions. The lawyer said that he simply refused to leave the police station after intervening to stop the alleged torture of his client who is currently standing trial on unspecified criminal charges. The chairman of Armenia’s Chamber of Advocates, the national bar association, voiced support for Alaverdian and said the police had no right to evict him from the police station during the suspect’s interrogation. “The lawyer did his job,” Simon Babayan told a joint news conference with Alaverdian. Two other lawyers claimed to have been ill-treated at another Yerevan police station in February. They said the violence occurred after their teenage client stood by his allegations that he was beaten up in police custody. The Chamber of Advocates demanded at the time that law-enforcement authorities investigate the allegations and prosecute “all guilty persons.” No police officer is known to have been charged, fired or subjected to disciplinary action over that incident. Human rights activists say police torture in Armenia remains widespread despite police reforms declared by the Armenian government. A government bill enacted as part of those reforms three years ago called for surveillance cameras to be installed inside all police stations -- and their interrogation rooms in particular -- by 2023. Only ten police stations were equipped with such cameras. They were switched off in last July on then national police chief Vahe Ghazarian s orders. The police said the cameras are no longer needed because under another law enacted last year, suspects detained by police officers must be interrogated by another law-enforcement body, the Investigative Committee. Dashnaktsutyun Vows Protests Against ‘Karabakh’s Surrender’ • Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Dashnaktsutyun party leader Ishkhan Saghatelian speaks during a news conference in Yerevan, . The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) said on Tuesday that it will join forces with other opposition groups to stage protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s plans to sign a peace deal upholding Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. “What Pashinian announced is not a peace treaty, it’s a new capitulation,” said Ishkhan Saghatelian, Dashnaktsutyun’s top leader in Armenia. “If it’s signed, it will have disastrous and tragic consequences for the Armenian people. The only way to prevent it is to organize a popular revolt and resistance front.” “Nikol Pashinian has no mandate to hand over Artsakh to Azerbaijan,” he told a news conference. Saghatelian said that his party will try to initiate such a popular movement together with other opposition groups, including those not represented in the Armenian parliament. The opposition demonstrations will start this summer, he said without giving concrete dates. Saghatelian spoke on behalf of Dashnaktsutyun, rather than the main opposition Hayastan alliance, of which his party is a key member. Other Hayastan leaders have also condemned Pashinian for effectively recognizing Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. But the alliance headed by former President Robert Kocharian has not yet announced plans for renewed antigovernment protests sought by Dashnaktsutyun. Hayastan and Pativ Unem, the other opposition bloc represented in the parliament, jointly staged daily protests in Yerevan in May and June last year after Pashinian signaled readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to his government. They claim to have delayed a “capitulation agreement” with Baku despite failing to topple Pashinian. Saghatelian admitted on Tuesday that the Armenian opposition’s 2022 bid for regime change did not attract sufficient popular support. But he expressed confidence that the opposition will pull larger crowds this time around. “Last year, many people did not quite understand what’s going on and accused us of fighting for power,” said Saghatelian. “But now, I think, it’s clear to everyone that the guy [Pashinian] … is going down the path of making Artsakh a part of Azerbaijan.” Armenia Also Fears Another Escalation In Karabakh Russian military vehicles roll along a road towards Nagorno-Karabakh, November 13, 2020. The Azerbaijani military may be gearing up for another attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government claimed on Tuesday. Tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and “the line of contact” around Karabakh have been steadily rising despite major progress reportedly made in peace talks between Baku and Yerevan. The conflicting sides accuse each other of violating the ceasefire on a virtually daily basis. Baku regularly claims that Azerbaijani troops opened fire to stop Karabakh Armenian forces from fortifying their positions. The authorities in Stepanakert dismiss this as a smokescreen for justifying systematic Azerbaijani gunfire at Karabakh farmers and their tractors engaged in agricultural work. A senior Karabakh official said late last week that Baku may thus be plotting another upsurge in violence. On Saturday, Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov ordered his troops stationed in and around Karabakh to be prepared to “thwart provocations at any moment.” Hasanov’s ministry issued on Tuesday a statement saying that they stand ready to do that. The Armenian Foreign Ministry pointed, meanwhile, to the “fake news” about Armenian ceasefire violations spread by Baku. It said it has “extremely serious concerns that Azerbaijan’s military-political leadership … is preparing the ground for carrying out fresh aggressive actions and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.” “We call on the Russian peacekeeping forces to strictly monitor compliance with the ceasefire regime and investigate all incidents claimed by Azerbaijan, publicly presenting the actual state of affairs,” the ministry added in a statement. It also renewed Yerevan’s calls for the dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to Karabakh and the launch of an internationally mediated dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry dismissed the Armenian claims and accused Armenia of meddling in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs. “Instead of hindering peace efforts and making false statements, Armenia should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, of which the Karabakh region is a part,” it said. Baku also demanded Yerevan “immediately withdraw Armenian army units from Azerbaijan’s territory.” Armenia has repeatedly denied any military presence in Karabakh. The rising tensions contrast with a recent series of peace talks during which Armenia and Azerbaijan narrowed their differences on a bilateral peace treaty discussed by them. The foreign ministers of the two states were due to meet in Washington on June 12 for further U.S.-mediated discussions on the treaty. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan said last week that the meeting was postponed “at the request of the Azerbaijani side.” Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian on Tuesday linked the delay to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest visit to Baku. Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.