U.S. blacklisted several Armenian officials, police officers
By Rashid Shirinov
Police brutality has long been a part of everyday life in Armenia, while it became more evident following the recent demonstrations in Yerevan. There have been a number of reports of police brutality and arbitrary arrests during the July rallies against the Armenian government, while hundreds were injured when police dispersed the protests.
The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan drew up a "black list" of the authorities and police that participated in cruel dispersing of demonstrators in the course of rallies in support of armed group Sasna Tsrer, local newspaper Hraparak reported on August 12 citing a source.
“In the near future the officials included in this list will face great difficulties on getting a visa to the United States. The list includes police and other officials who get spotted in the hottest days of events,” said the newspaper.
Mass rallies took place in Yerevan in support of the armed group that was for two weeks seizing a police station in Yerevan. After another rally of July 29, there were revealed credible reports of violence and excessive use of force by the police to disperse protestors during the night of July 29-30. Then, Armenian police arrested 165 people.
Following the events, 73 people addressed medical institutions with injuries of varying severity. Some of them still continue receiving treatment in hospitals of Yerevan. During the crackdown of police, journalists and cameramen also got injured.
Posts on social networks also facilitated detecting the guilty ones. It is also noted that these lists will be transferred to other embassies for not providing Schengen visa for these persons.
July events in Yerevan were closely tracked by a number of reputable foreign organizations, and the consequences of these events will be not long in coming, the newspaper states. “There is information that due to the actions of police a number of international organizations will refuse provision of financial assistance to police,” it claims
During the clashes with demonstrators, police showed excessive force through use of police batons and stun grenades which wounded dozens of people and some journalists, some severely.
Earlier, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills expressed his concern about reports that Armenian activists are being detained by police without any explanation.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz