IFEX – News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT – ARMENIA
3 March 2008
Opposition news agency sealed off; journalist arrested; non-government
broadcasts to be severely curtailed, Internet and satellite reception cut,
under state of emergency
SOURCE: Human Rights Watch
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an abbreviated version of a 2 March 2008
Human Rights Watch press release:
Armenia: Police Beat Peaceful Protesters in Yerevan
State of Emergency Restricts Civil Liberties and Free Press
(New York, March 2, 2008) – Armenian police on March 1 used excessive force
and violence to disperse demonstrators protesting peacefully against recent
election results, Human Rights Watch said today. Following the crackdown on
demonstrators, President Robert Kocharian decreed a state of emergency in
Yerevan, the capital, until March 20, 2008. There was a heavy police
presence overnight in central Yerevan.
According to Arminfo news agency, the police have surrounded and sealed off
the opposition news agency A1+, preventing its employees from entering or
leaving the building.
"The Armenian government should refrain from using violence and make clear
that it won’t tolerate excessive use of force by police," said Holly
Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "A
political crisis doesn’t give the government carte blanche in how it
responds to demonstrators."
Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that at 6.30 a.m. on March 1,
Armenian special police forces violently dispersed a rally protesting
against alleged electoral fraud that had entered its 11th day on Yerevan’s
Freedom Square, beating demonstrators with truncheons and iron bars. Some
were fleeing when police attacked them. Dozens are reported to have
sustained severe injuries and more than 100 protestors were arrested.
Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosian, who was the main opposition
challenger in last month’s presidential poll, remains under effective house
arrest as police cordoned off his home. Also on March 1, at least six
opposition leaders were detained for organizing illegal demonstrations.
Kocharian’s press office reported that under the state of emergency public
gatherings and strikes will be banned and freedom of movement as well as
non-government public broadcasts will be severely curtailed. Internet and
satellite reception has been cut in Yerevan.
Later in the morning, protesters gathered in front of the French Embassy in
downtown Yerevan. Their numbers grew substantially during the day, as did
the police presence. A demonstrator told Human Rights Watch that police
were equipped with rubber truncheons, electric-shock devices, and water
cannons. The rally was still continuing in front of the embassy when the
state of emergency was announced after police were reported by news
organizations to have fired in the air to disperse the demonstrators.
Opposition demonstrations followed the February 19 presidential election,
after the Central Election Commission declared Prime Minister, Serzh
Sargsian the winner with 53 percent of the vote. According to official
tallies, opposition challenger Ter-Petrosian won 21.5 percent of the vote.
Tens of thousands of Ter-Petrosian supporters took to the streets in
downtown Yerevan on February 20 to protest the declared election results
and what they believed to have been electoral fraud (
28.htm ). The protests
continued peacefully on Freedom Square for the next 10 days, with some
demonstrators camping out on the square in tents (. . .).
At about 6:30 a.m. on March 1, a few hundred opposition supporters were in
their tents when police arrived and started to disperse them. Information
about approaching interior troops began to reach demonstrators shortly
after 6:00 a.m. A 30-year-old eyewitness, who requested anonymity for fear
of retribution, told Human Rights Watch that several rows of Special Forces
in riot armor, with helmets, plastic shields and rubber truncheons, started
approaching from the left and right sides of Freedom Square. The witness
said that police, without prior warning, sprayed water and descended on the
demonstrators, using rubber truncheons and electric prods (. . .).
The police operation lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes, but as news about
it spread, more people started heading towards the square. At least two
eyewitnesses described separately to Human Rights Watch how police
attacked, beat, and detained groups of 20 to 30 people who attempted to
gather near the square (. . .).
Postanjian told Human Rights Watch that in one case a journalist, Gagig
Shanshan, was arrested and held in Zeitun district police station in
Yerevan, but several hours after his arrest his lawyer still had no access
to him.
"Even in a state of emergency, those in detention and facing criminal
charges are entitled to due process rights, and should have access to a
lawyer," said Cartner.
Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Armenia is a
party, set out the safeguards which should accompany those deprived of
their liberty, and access to a lawyer is one of those safeguards.
Government information sources showed police footage of arms stockpiles
that allegedly were discovered at Freedom Square after the demonstration
was dispersed, including truncheons, guns, grenades, and gas capsules. The
report was vehemently denied by the opposition.
"The Armenian government prides itself on having a democratic image," said
Cartner. "Beating peaceful demonstrators is inconsistent with that image
and violates its obligations under human rights law."
For the full text of this press release, see :
89.htm
To read Human Rights Watch’s news release on election-related violence in
Armenia, please visit:
ni18128.htm
For further information, contact Giorgi Gogia (Georgian, Russian, English),
Tblisi, mobile: +995 77 42 1235; Rachel Denber (English, Russian, French),
New York: tel: +1 212 216 1266, mobile: +1 917 916 1266; or Human Rights
Watch, 350 Fifth Ave., 34th Floor, New York, NY 10018-3299, U.S.A., tel: +1
212 290 4700, fax: +1 212 736 1300, e-mail: [email protected], Internet:
The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of Human
Rights Watch. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please
credit Human Rights Watch.
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